


Interlude: 2007

by Not_You



Series: A Nest Of Snakes [4]
Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Begging, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cunnilingus, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Face Slapping, Hypnotism, Identity Issues, Loud Sex, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reconciliation, Recreational Drug Use, Scratching, Sleepwalking, Spanking, alternate universe - a nest of snakes, everyone is fucked up, that's just kind of a given in this setting let's be real, uncle ocelot's other party trick the one that is not revolvers, v made you a mix tape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 14:43:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 23,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13592292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_You/pseuds/Not_You
Summary: About ten years ago, Mr. Miller started to attempt to get his life together.  Ms. Quiet insisted.





	1. Chapter 1

Kaz is getting too old for this, and he knows it. Shit, he was too old for this ten years ago, but now it's really catching up to him. He can feel a dried streak tightening the skin on his upper lip, abused mucous membranes sweating blood. At least he still has his shades on as the morning sun drills in through the window. He heaves himself up off the filthy carpet and staggers to the bathroom to piss what feels like a gallon and then go to the mirror and face the damage. Well, lookit that handsome devil. Fuck, if he went outside right now he'd frighten small children and the elderly. Most other demographics would pretend not to see him, or laugh if they were mean enough. There's even a little white smear of perfectly good cocaine at the corner of his mouth. He collects it on one thumb and rubs it into his gums. 

A knock on the main door makes Kaz groan. He scrubs his face as best he can with a washcloth, makes a couple desperate passes over his head with a comb, and then limps to the door, his foot in need of recalibration that he keeps not getting. He looks through the peephole and grimaces. Quiet is standing out there, and he knows Quiet, the bitch can wait all day. 

With the chain on, he cracks the door. He only doesn't find a gun to hold on her because if she kills him she has to explain it to V.

"What do you want?" he growls, and she pulls V's phone out of her pocket. 

Kaz has missed a few updates, but he knows it instantly by the little IV bag charm he gave V as a joke eons ago, all its old scratches in place under some new ones. And then Quiet starts to play the voice mail Kaz left... was it late night before last or very early yesterday morning? Either way, it's skin-peelingly horrible and he scrabbles the chain off and grabs Quiet by the arm, hauling her into the room and slamming the door as his own pathetic recorded voice tells V that he always, always loved him and he knows he's a fuckup but dammit, pretending to be Jack wasn't okay-- Quiet lets him take the phone from her hand and stop the message.

"That doesn't answer my question, Quiet," he says, sliding into Japanese so that she has no excuse not to verbally reply.

"I want you to come talk to V," she says, turning it into 'Bii' even though she knows how to make a V sound and reminding Kaz yet again of why he has never liked her.

"Since when do you want that?" he asks. It's not fair that Quiet looks goddamn perfect and he's standing here in nothing but yesterday's pants with the whiskey stain. At least it's not anything worse.

She glares at him, symbiont markings darkening around those beautiful green eyes. "Since the beginning, idiot!"

"Bullshit," Kaz says, going into the tiny kitchen for a breakfast beer. When he comes back out with it, Quiet curls her lip in disgust.

"For _some reason_ you're very important to V," she says. "I can't let this go on any longer."

"You and what army?"

"I am my own army when someone makes my husband cry."

Kaz chokes on his beer, wheezing and spewing foam. "What?!"

"He cried over you," she growls. "My vast reserves of patience are nearly dry, Kazu." She just calls him that, not Kazuhira, not even Kaz, and no honorific. He always forgets what a weird little thump that is in Japanese.

"...I guess if he wants to see me, I'll see him," Kaz mutters.

"Good," Quiet says. "I'll wait while you clean yourself up."

Fuck it, Quiet wants to wait, let her wait. Kaz takes off his shades and then each of his limbs in turn and takes a real shower, scrubbing all the dried sweat off of his skin and all the grease out of his hair, taking the time to wash and massage each stump. He used to feel a lot more fucked up about this. Hell, V was a big part of making it less fucked up and Jesus, it's been years and his heart still breaks every time he thinks about the guy.

Once Kaz has his stumps dry and everything in good order, he clips his limbs back on and shaves more carefully than he has in... weeks, at least. Cheap as this place is, there is a blow-dryer provided, and he makes good use of it. By the time he's done and Quiet has been waiting for an hour, his shades allow him to look totally respectable. Or as respectable as a man in a towel can. He can feel Quiet watching him as he pad-clunks past her to make sure he has clean clothes, and her gaze is as obnoxious as ever. 

V and Quiet is kind of like Jack and Ocelot: Kaz has never been sure just what the hell V sees in her beyond the obvious. Sure she's hot, but she's creepy and remote and always watches people like they're on the other side of her scope. Kaz finds a pair of jeans that are actually fit to see the light of day and a fresh t-shirt, and takes his sweet time about making sure that he has his wallet, watch, and keys. His phone can fucking stay here, all it does is get him into trouble.

Despite Kaz's best efforts, Quiet just waits like a fucking tree. She doesn't show the slightest sign of irritation, so Kaz has to make up the difference, shoving his hands into his pockets and grumbling to himself as he follows her out, doing his best not to watch that perfect ass. It really sucks to be this susceptible. And that Quiet never wears real pants unless she has to.

For some reason it's no surprise that she's driving a total mom car, some kind of battered hatchback covered in dog hair and coffee stains. Kaz climbs into the shotgun seat and is profoundly grateful when Quiet immediately switches on some music, and then just as irritated when it turns out to be 'Love Will Tear Us Apart.' The worst thing about someone like Quiet is that you can't even tell when she's being cruel on purpose. He wishes he smoked, leaning against the window and ignoring the sleepy, melancholy drone of the lyrics as hard as he can.


	2. Chapter 2

V and Quiet's version of a white picket fence is a rustic little place in a patch of genuine nowhere that is surprisingly close to V's clinic. As they wind their way up the hill, Kaz takes slow, deep breaths, and does not think. He has no idea what he is going to say or do when he sees V again, and there's no point in conjecture.

_You will be quiet,_ Quiet lets him know in ASL, and he doesn't even have the heart to make a stupid joke about that to piss her off. _Don't scare the animals._

Kaz is almost enough of an asshole to pretend not to understand her. It would serve her right, the way she always used her goddamn homesign with V to cut him out. He nods instead, and doesn't make a sound as he follows Quiet into the house. It's dim and cool inside, and he actually doesn't need his shades. He keeps them on and shuffles after Quiet, taking in the unique scent of the place, the tranquil blue-green walls, and all the houseplants. He sees signs of dogs and maybe a cat, but apparently they're all napping in one of the back rooms. It is getting into the hottest part of the summer day.

Quiet leads the way into a blue and white tiled kitchen and then Kaz stops noticing anything but V, very clear in the sunlight slanting in through the window. He's sitting there at the table like a stone. He barely even seems to be breathing, like he has done nothing in his life but wait. His hair is a little longer these days, and the little touches of grey at the temples are really starting to make themselves known. Kaz wants to punch him and he wants to kiss the scar over his eye and it somehow cancels out. He just stands there, deadlocked, and then V is rising from the table and fuck, his eyes are red. He looks like Kaz has felt on way too many long nights and hard mornings.

"Kaz," V says, and reaches out.

Kaz can't bear to look at him and he can't bear to reach back and he can't bear not to be touching him. He could just grab the near edge of the table and flip it, see if V really is enough like Jack to break the furniture with his face until they both feel better, but that would probably scare the animals. Still pretty tempting, but instead he just limps over to V, still not actually sure what he's going to do until he plows his face into the crook of V's neck and then just stands there like an idiot, arms at his sides, his whole body taut with all these stupid motherfucking feelings. God fucking damn it all, he had hoped he'd be smoother than _this_ , whatever happened. Kazuhira Miller: Still Fucking It Up After All These Years. He drags in a harsh breath that's way too loud, and shakes all over when V wraps his arms around him, steady metal hand pulling Kaz's shades out from between them. 

Kaz isn't much help, but he lets him do it. He feels like something important inside him has shattered, and he really wishes Quiet wasn't here to see it. He clutches at V's shirt and tries to just keep breathing and not shake so much. V still smells the same. Kaz breathes it in and can't help the tiniest, most strangled whimper. It's humiliating enough that he risks a painful glance back, dazzled in the sunlight. Quiet isn't there, and for a moment Kaz believes in God. He hides his eyes again, not sure how much of the burning is photosensitivity and how much is just everything.

"You haven't been eating enough," V says, and Kaz laughs, a cracked sound that's muffled in V's shoulder. He must really be fucking up V's shirt the way he's knotting both hands into it, but he can't seem to stop.

"You're such an asshole," Kaz grumbles, and V hugs him tightly.

"I never would have done it for anything less important, Kaz, I swear," V says, and he sounds so pained that Kaz can finally let go of his shirt and hold him properly. V's heart is pounding, and Kaz doesn't trust himself to speak for a long time.

"So," Kaz says at last, so casual it's a joke, "how are the boys?"

"They'll be six next week," V says, and Kaz laughs again, because their lives are absurd and every breath reminds him that missing V really has been like missing a limb.

Kaz has kept up with the whole Enfants Terribles thing. Even after he finally figured it out, he had made sure that Jack had had all the vicious attack lawyers he needed. Hell, Kaz was the one to take out the ex-XOF guy who had been sniffing around when the boys were about a year old. Hadn't killed anyone in years, but it's just like riding a bike. He wonders if the boys have figured out the whole bike thing yet, as Quiet comes creeping back in with two cats and a little beagleish dog at her heels. No sign of DD, and even now Kaz spares a thought for him, poor old dog. Quiet comes up and hands V his phone, and Kaz hates having her so close only a little less than he hates the soft, meaningful way V thanks her. At least she has the decency to pull back again and let them just stand there, each of them trying to figure out how to let go so V can show him some recent photos like the two of them are some kind of normal friends. 

Finally Kaz tears himself away to sit at the kitchen table, and V scurries to join him so fast that it would be funny if Kaz could see the humor in anything right now. As it is, they push their chairs together so Kaz can plaster himself against V's side like a nervous dog. It's the right side, and V wraps that arm around him, so Kaz has to work the touchscreen, flesh fingers so much better for it than the metal of V's free hand. He does not start shaking again at the easy way they slide into V directing him, like they were never apart, and he's proud of himself for that.

Of course the boys are cute, all big blue eyes and missing baby teeth. Kaz is never going to admit it to anyone as long as he lives, but looking at them, his heart breaks for Jack. Of course Jack was born of woman and did in fact grow to adulthood like anyone else, but it can be easy to forget. These images are a potent reminder of all the shit he probably never had, the kids dozing in parental laps (and Ocelot's, and isn't that just eight kinds of fucked up,) perched in trees, joyously running around smeared with grass and mud, and other tableaux of a childhood well spent.


	3. Chapter 3

Of course V insists on feeding him. It's motherfucking nourishing soup and if it wasn't so good Kaz would tell him to fuck off. As it is he eats three bowls and only then realizes what a master stroke of espionage he has fallen victim to: he can barely keep his eyes open. He feels sort of like he did after his first real American Thanksgiving, and has no choice but let V steer him into what seems to be a guest room. On the one hand, the linens don't smell like V, but they don't smell like Quiet, either. And for one truly great thing, DD is back here. He's older than sin by dog standards, but he still knows his old pal, rising from his bed on rickety legs to come lick Kaz's hand, wagging his tail and even trying to prance around a little.

"Still think you're just a puppy, don't you?" V rumbles, and Kaz has a feeling that he could be speaking to either or both of them. DD lolls his tongue out of the side of his mouth and grins at them with blunted teeth. 

Kaz pats the old dog, murmuring, "Such a good boy." 

To be fair, he guesses he could be talking to either or both of his companions, as well. V was always good, always so fucking gentle and steady and that's probably why it hurt so bad to find out. Kaz sits on the edge of the bed and blinks stupidly as V gracefully sinks to his knees on the rug. It brings back some memories that are not going to fucking help in this context, and Kaz is about to say something when V goes for his feet, pulling off one shoe and then the other as Kaz laughs so he won't start fucking crying.

"You old mother hen," he says, and V just smiles, taking off Kaz's left foot, setting it beside the shoes. 

V looks up again and there's a moment of serious weirdness before Kaz pulls off his shirt. He's not sleeping in it and getting that nasty ring around the neck when he just finally stopped being disgusting today. V helps him with it like they do this every day, folding it neatly and putting it on top of the bureau. Fuck it, might as well hang for a sheep as a lamb, and sleeping in jeans isn't exactly comfortable, to say nothing of a gold watch. V smiles when Kaz hands it to him, like he's pleased to still be trusted with it. Kaz wonders how the fuck many times a heart can break. Is it like shattering your whole skeleton one bone at a time, two hundred and six separate agonies? Or one hundred sixty. One seventy-nine, for V? Whatever either of them has left.

Now he's down to his boxer briefs (and hell, if he has to be facing V in them, at least they're plain black and a flattering cut) and his sunglasses, a ridiculous configuration that has been happening for a long time and will probably continue to happen. He goes to unclip his arm, and V's big hands are there to catch it. He knows just where to put it, resting upright on its knuckles against that side of the bed, right next to Kaz's foot, so he can get into the arm and then have both hands to put his foot on. 

Now Kaz is sitting here in his stump socks, and he feels more than naked when V peels them off, and doesn't actually succeed in blinking back tears while V drapes them over the edge of the bureau next to his other clothes, giving them a chance to air out. Kaz can count the people who have taken care of him like this on his remaining hand and still have a couple of fingers left, and V is the only one who isn't dead. He quickly scrubs the beading moisture from his eyes with his hand, just before V turns around, coming back to the bed to lift the blankets for Kaz as he squirms his awkward, one-armed way under them. That's just helping, but then V actually tucks the thin blankets in around him. It's not even cold, and Kaz snorts as he settles into the pillow.

"Really, V?" he asks, doing his best to ignore a spasm of terrible gratitude for this kind of care.

"Comfortable?" V asks, his voice soft and sweet in the way Kaz has missed so much.

"Yeah," Kaz rasps, not trusting himself to say more right this second.

Kaz doesn't want to sleep alone, but he'd feel like an asshole saying so. V makes sure the curtains are totally closed and the room is all soothing twilight before he takes Kaz's shades off, folding them up on the nightstand. This little kindness makes Kaz's throat burn with unshed tears, and he can't help reaching up and grabbing V's sleeve, even though V hasn't even started to turn away.

"Ssshh," V says, even though Kaz hasn't made a sound. He laces their fingers together, skin on skin, and V squeezes his hand. "I've missed you so much, Kaz. Please, get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up, and you are always welcome in this house," he says, and leans down, giving Kaz a warm, prickly kiss on the forehead that makes him tremble.

"I like you so much," he says, in Japanese where it sounds better, and V smiles down at him. He's probably never going to really be fluent, but he knows that one.

"I like Kazuhira," he says, and the lack of honorific on that one makes Kaz smile even though he still feels like crying. V leans down again and kisses his cheek this time, and then switches back to English to murmur, "I'm so happy to have you here."

V sounds a bit like he's trying not to cry, too, and that's heartbreaking and so comforting at the same time that Kaz is almost sure that he's not going to fall asleep. But with the door shut and the room so dim and so cool, he starts to doze almost immediately, waking up a bit when DD heaves his poor ancient body up onto the bed. It's a full size, there's enough room if Kaz cuddles the wall, and that's a comfortable spot anyway. Pressed to the cool paint on one side and with DD's breathing warmth on the other, Kaz sleeps better than he has in at least eighteen months.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Kaz wakes up again, it's actually dark in here with the curtains drawn. He sits up, finds his shades, and stands on one foot to get his stump socks. The nightstand is sturdy enough that it's easy to lean on it and grab them off the bureau. Once they’re on and his limbs are in place, he carefully peeks out around the curtains to confirm his initial impression that it’s about five o'clock, just really beginning the long, summer twilight. DD grins at him and wags his tail, and Kaz has to smile back, even if it’s a little rueful.

“Hey, buddy,” he says softly, and scratches the old dog behind his ears. “Does this window open, ol’ pal? There any way I can just crawl on out of here?” He wouldn’t really mean it even if he was talking to someone with thumbs. Being close to V is less painful than being far, but not by much, and so like many things in his life, Kaz has to just take it. He hauls his clothes back on, and takes a long moment by the mirror. He’s not nearly as vain as he once was, but some things are impossible to eradicate. One of the first things he had figured out how to do left-handed had been combing his hair. Now he does the best he can with his fingers.

“Kaz?” V calls from the hallway, and his gentle voice makes Kaz jump.

“Can’t you just let a guy climb out the window in peace?” he asks, opening the door.

“Not when the guy is you,” V says, and Kaz has no defense against being hugged again. The son of a bitch may have married Quiet, but his arms still feel like home. “I was going to tell you you can stay here if you want,” V murmurs, the sound vibrating in his chest, “but I guess you don’t.”

“I… Just give me a damn minute, V!” Kaz snaps, not letting go of him.

“You can have all the minutes you want,” V says softly, “just no more radio silence, okay?”

“...No more misinformation, then,” Kaz growls. It still hurts a lot, that they honestly thought he would blab, and after his years of loyal service to the cause, too.

“None,” V says, and presses a kiss to Kaz’s head. “I never wanted to hurt you,” he says, and Kaz snorts derisively, still clinging to him. “I know I did,” V says, “but it’s never what I want.” They stand there like that for a little while longer, and then V murmurs, “Come on, I want to feed you again if you’re going to leave.”

“...’Kay,” Kaz mumbles, and they hold hands as they walk to the kitchen, metal on metal. Behind them, DD’s claws click on the wood.

“You’re dropping your foot,” V murmurs after a few steps.

“I know I need it recalibrated,” Kaz says, more waspishly than he wants to, but V just chuckles.

“Okay, Kaz,” he says. “Just making sure.”

The kitchen is deserted except for their party and a hopeful cat, Quiet and the dogs nowhere in sight. Kaz sits at the table and lets V heat up more soup. It is good stuff, and Kaz is able to put another bowl down while V gives DD a treat and pets him as he crunches it down. The cat hops into Kaz’s lap, and he grumbles but doesn’t shove it off.

“His name is Lucifer. Quiet’s choice.”

“...Christ, I either have to ride back with her or get a cab out here, don’t I?”

“I could drive you,” he says softly, and Kaz isn’t sure if the idea of being trapped in such close quarters with him is more exhilarating or horrifying. V gives him a minute to think about it, puttering around the kitchen, performing little useful tasks the way he always does. The sudden sense of how much he missed just V’s silent presence in the same room is like a claw around his heart.

“I… Okay,” Kaz says, very quietly.

This way has its own wretchedness, of course. He has to wait at the door and watch V kiss Quiet and then gaze deep into her eyes for a long moment. Goddammit, Kaz has standards. He has no plans to come between V and his wife, no matter how awful that wife might be, and they might as well have the decency to know that.

Still, it’s good to drive off into the summer night with V, the two of them wrapped in the cozy darkness of the car. Naturally, V has an mp3 player in here, and he doesn’t put on depressing shit to try and break Kaz’s will to live. He almost goes too far the other way, but a little sugary dance-pop won’t kill either of them.

“...Are you okay?” Kaz asks, still a few stoplights away from the hotel.

“...What do you mean?”

“You went deep enough to make a fool out of me, it can’t have been good for you. Did that son of a bitch let Ocelot pull his little tricks on you?”

V coughs, looking deeply embarrassed. “Maybe a couple,” he admits, and then follows it up with, “you know Ocelot doesn’t dish anything out that he can’t take.”

“Like that makes it okay! I hate to think of his sticky fucking fingers in your head almost as much as I hate thinking of myself asking you if you thought V still loved me.”

“I told you the truth,” V says, watching the road. “That he does. Always did, always will.”

“So why the fuck did you marry Quiet?” Kaz snaps.

“Because I love her, too,” V says. “And she needed citizenship. I think she’s kind of annoyed to be someone’s legal wife.”

“I fucking hate how you’re honest about your feelings when I ask,” Kaz grumbles, and then laughs at himself. “Never change,” he adds, and V chuckles.

“I’ll remind you that you said that,” he says, and the thought that V will be able to remind him of things, that they’re in contact again and not even yelling at each other, makes Kaz feel weird all over again. A kind of terrible shyness sweeps over him, a resurrected feeling from the depths of adolescence, and he groans, rubbing his hand over his face.

“I’m too old for this shit,” Kaz says, more plaintively than he wants to.

“I know,” V says. “I’m sorry.” He kisses Kaz’s cheek and Kaz hates himself for not having the guts to just turn his head and see what he gets. Instead he just closes his eyes and tries not to tremble too obviously.


	5. Chapter 5

It takes Kaz three days to crack, but when he does it is sudden and complete. The problem is that he’s sober. He was really coming to the end of his bender anyway, but usually he’d have something to take the edge off. A few drinks, a line or two, that kind of thing eases his transition into the usual frantic cleaning and blood tests and catching up on work. This time he’s too busy to cushion his descent, and the very moment that everything is in order, the impersonal blankness of a mostly-clean hotel room pounces on him, leaving him breathless and miserable. He can’t endure another minute in here, and almost before he knows what he’s doing, he’s calling V. It’s the middle of the night and he feels like an asshole, but it can’t be helped.

“Kaz?” V rumbles, and he sounds like Kaz woke him up, but not the least bit irritated.

“I… I can’t stay here anymore.”

“Okay," V says, and then before Kaz can even start forcing himself to ask, "I’ll come get you.”

It takes about an hour, and Kaz spends the last half of that sitting on his luggage at the edge of the parking lot. Something about the weather makes him remember Japan, and he has a sudden nostalgic longing for fireflies. It’s weirdly easy to just stare into space until V pulls up. Kaz stands up and heaves his bags into the backseat and then climbs in next to V. His foot catches on the bottom edge of the door and he curses quietly, pulling it in. V is courteous enough not to say anything.

“I’ll have to go back to bed when we get home,” V says, and the word is sweet and painful, “but you’ll have the run of the place.”

“Okay,” is all Kaz really trusts himself to say, and he’s not sure whether he wants to laugh or cry when V puts on some kind of instrumental jazz playlist. As a genre, this was always more his thing than V’s.

“I made you a mix tape,” he says after a few miles, and Kaz laughs.

“Of course you did,” he says. “Is it a real tape?”

“Of course,” V says, smiling faintly as he watches the road.

It’s way too late to listen to anything when they get back, and V tiptoes in like the old married man he is. Kaz follows close behind, each of them carrying one of his bags. They seem huge in the little guest room, and Kaz grimaces, looking at them.

“I have some other stuff in storage,” he mutters, “but I can leave it there for a while.”

“We’ll find room,” V says, and smiles when DD comes clicking into the room, grinning with his blunted teeth. “Good to know you’ll have company,” V says, and hugs Kaz tightly. “You remember where the bathroom is, and there are some fresh toothbrushes in the cabinet.” He lets him go to stifle a massive yawn as best he can, blinking hard. His eyes were always darker than Jack’s, the most remarkable blue Kaz has ever seen.

“This close to Liz Taylor violet,” he murmurs, quoting his much younger, much drunker self, and V chuckles.

“Thanks, Kaz,” he says softly, and kisses his cheek. “Make yourself comfortable, all right?”

“All right,” Kaz says, and resolutely does not cling to V and lets him leave with no fuss. At least he still has DD.

While Kaz brushes his teeth and gets his limbs in order and finds a good place to leave his sunglasses, DD stays close by, and wags his tail every time Kaz pets him. Kaz croons to him in a mixture of English and Japanese, and smiles when he hops into bed after him.

“I missed you too, buddy,” he says softly, and scratches DD behind the ears. He’s expecting it to be harder to sleep than it is. He supposes his advancing years are catching up with him, and then slides sideways into a dream that he doesn’t remember when he wakes up.

Appropriately enough, it’s DD who serves as Kaz’s alarm clock, whining and pawing at the door until he shoves his leg into his foot and shuffles across the room to open the door so DD can click away to the kitchen, where someone is pouring kibble into bowls. It’s probably fucking Quiet, V would be talking to the animals. Kaz really doesn’t want to deal with her, but he needs to piss and then he’s fucking hungry, too, and fair is fair. He gets fully dressed, where if it was V he would just find his pants and call it good, and makes his resolute way out to the kitchen.

Of course Quiet is fucking topless. Why wouldn’t she be, in her own home when she wanders around in fucking Daisy Dukes at her age? Kaz grimaces and cranks his head to the side, arm over his eyes like he’s trying to block the unfiltered radiance of the sun.

“For fuck’s sake, Quiet!” He risks another look, and she’s just as fucking _perfect_ as the snapshot on the back of his eyelids. Her nipples are that nice, warm, tan-pink color, slightly pebbled in the cool air and he is officially in hell. He wants to punch everyone in the world in the dick, starting and ending with himself. Quiet just rolls her eyes and gives him the finger.

 _My house, my rules,_ she signs, and Kaz grimaces because she’s right.

“Fine. Is V still drinking coffee out of post-hypnotic suggestion, or is he back on the green tea?”

_We have both._

“So that’s a yes, then. I should have killed Ocelot when I had the chance,” he says, and starts a pot of coffee.

“The pure and genuine way you care for V,” she says, in Japanese, “is why I am willing to tolerate your presence in my home.”

“Thanks, honey,” Kaz drawls. “You want any coffee?”

“Yes,” she says, and gets back to feeding the animals. By the time the coffee is done, they’re all buried in their bowls, snorfling away.

Kaz could do with some breakfast, himself, but being around Quiet feels kind of like being around a venomous snake, and he wants to keep an eye on her. Even if keeping an eye on her is pretty goddamn torturous. The line of her throat as she sips her coffee would probably kill a lesser man. As it is, Kaz tries to remember everything he has never liked about her, watching her over the rim of his cup.


	6. Chapter 6

Kaz spends the day outdoors, prowling around with DD and avoiding Quiet as he does his best to familiarize himself with the property. When V gets home in the afternoon, he comes wandering in, petting animals and then kissing Quiet when he gets to her. It’s domestic as hell, but before Kaz can even feel weird about it, V is pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheek.

“Hey, Kaz,” he rumbles, and Kaz tries not to tremble because that voice does him in every fucking time.

Dinner is rabbit, carefully thawed in its neat little bag with the date, time, and location of its demise written on the side in permanent marker. Quiet is actually a pretty good cook, and Kaz doesn’t have to strain himself to eat enough to be polite. She actually smiles when he says that it’s good, and V gives her this proud husband look that should be sickening but instead just makes Kaz wish he was part of it. Not like they could even get married on the federal level where it actually matters, but still.

After dinner it’s apparently time to do paperwork and look at Quiet’s latest photos, because when she’s not shooting wildlife with bullets to eat it, she’s shooting it with cameras so people can see its real beauty and maybe just possibly not turn every bit of wild land in America into strip malls. They’re good shots, but after a while Kaz has to flee to his room. He feels like some kind of angsty teenager, and really wishes his guitar wasn’t still in storage. It would be nice to have some kind of healthy outlet. As it is he just flops onto his bed, only getting up to let DD in, so that he may flop as well. It really is good to see him, and Kaz’s throat gets tight as he thinks that the poor old dog could easily have died while Kaz was still out in the wind, busy being furious at everyone he has ever loved.

“You would’ve forgiven me, right?” he murmurs, and DD wags his tail. Kaz chuckles, and scratches him behind the ears again. “You old sweetheart,” he says, “I’m glad you survived to retire.”

The two of them just lie there for a long time, watching as the light from the window slowly changes color as the sun makes its leisurely way down. If they were in Alaska it would be hours yet until dark, and even that would barely count. A light knock at the door makes Kaz flinch, but DD just raises his head and wags his tail.

“Kaz?” V calls, and the thought that he won’t just barge in even though this is his house makes Kaz’s heart ache.

“Come in,” Kaz says, and V opens the door with a faint, shy smile.

“Hey,” he says, and comes over and sits on the foot of the bed. “It was too late for you to listen to the tape last night, do you want to do it now?”

Kaz does and doesn’t. He’s not sure that he can actually bear this, but if V has gone to the trouble to make him something, no matter what it is, he doesn’t have the heart to deny it. When he says that he’d love to hear this mix tape, V beams at him. He doesn’t say a word about the halting way Kaz’s foot moves, just takes his hand to lead the way to the garage, part of which has been partitioned off into what a douchier guy would call his man cave. There’s a gorgeous old analog stereo system set up, a beat-up old couch that looks very comfortable, a fluffy rug to take the chill out of the concrete floor, and a definite smell of marijuana.

“Still at the corner of medical and recreational use?” Kaz asks, and V laughs.

“Pretty much,” he says, “have a seat.”

The couch turns out to be just as comfortable as it looks, and Kaz sighs, settling into one corner as V finds the tape and slots it into the player. “You wanna vape before we start?”

“You and your goddamn vaporizer,” Kaz says, “and yes, of course I do.”

It’s not the same e-cigar rig he used to have, but it’s very similar, and Kaz gets the hang of it quickly. Even though he never really took up tobacco, he prefers to actually smoke his drugs, but the vaporizer does work. He can feel the way his muscles kind of warm and loosen, and how some of the tension he always carries around relaxes. There’s the kind of pleasant stupidity that sets in as well, and it becomes entirely too easy to smile. He gives V a big, dopey, stoned grin, and V grins back at him.

“Stoned enough?” he asks, and Kaz chuckles.

“Never,” he says, and takes another hit. “Start the tape, though,” he adds, and V laughs, getting up to do just that.

The first song is tight and minimalist, and Kaz likes it a lot. It’s apparently “Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes” by Modest Mouse.

“I really just enjoy them as a band,” V says, “there’s another track or two of theirs on this.”

“Well, I hope they’re not all about you wanting to punch me in my glasses.”

“I only felt like that sometimes. Mostly I missed you.” He says it so fucking honestly, to, no attempt to cover himself, and Kaz is almost too embarrassed to look at him. As it is, he lets V lean on him, and puts an arm around him and accepts the vaporizer when he passes it back.

The next song is of course ‘The Things We Do For Love,’ which is way too relevant and makes Kaz somewhere between pissed off and desperately apologetic. He just keeps his mouth shut and takes a few more hits. The song after that is way more Motown flavored, and is apparently called ‘Valerie.’ The knowing, wistful affection of the lyrics makes him feel like he’s gonna fucking cry, and he waves off the vaporizer the next time V offers it. He’s already too emotional, he better not get any more fucked up.

There is more Modest Mouse in the mix, with ‘Float On,’ which Kaz really likes. Honestly, nothing on this tape is bad, because V really does have pretty good taste in music, especially when he has everything in the world to choose from and isn’t just digging through enemy compounds for whatever guys had in their footlockers. The tape ends with the Beatles, ‘From Me To You,’ and it’s another near-crying experience for Kaz. As the last notes fade away, V kisses him on the cheek again, and Kaz wonders how in the hell he can bear this.


	7. Chapter 7

It’s on Kaz's third day as part of the household that V absently mentions that the boys are having their birthday party on the day after tomorrow, and sends him into a mild panic about what to get the little bastards. Yes, with these last three days and the three he spent in the hotel wallowing in his failure and getting blood tests, he has had almost a week to get something, but it's still short notice when paperwork, watching daytime TV, and having fits of existential panic is so time-consuming. Seeing Jack again will be pretty bad, and seeing Ocelot is always terrible, but being that asshole who showed up empty handed is the thing that he really can’t deal with. 

Kaz has no idea what the hell six-year-olds are playing with these days, and despite V’s assurances that they can all give a present as a household and that he has already bought some art supplies and plastic dinosaurs, he goes digging through storage looking for something meaningful. He does come up with his guitar, but there’s nothing in here that would make any sense for a kid. He spends a sleepless night fretting about it, and then goes out in the morning to get three musical cards (Jack deserves the irritation) and sticks a crisp twenty-dollar bill into each one. There. Not exactly heartwarming, but an appreciable gift. It’s enough to get by with, anyway. V laughs when he says so, and hugs him tightly.

“It’ll be fine, Kaz. Don’t worry.”

Easier said than done, but Kaz feels surprisingly close to all right as they drive up to Jack’s house, even if he is bitterly familiar with it from when he was running protective surveillance on it as the behest of V pretending to be Jack. It also doesn’t help that he has to ride in the back because he’s the shortest person in the car, but it’s a beautiful day and there will be cake, despite Jack’s best efforts to keep the little monsters sugar-free.

A dog almost as old as DD barks when they pull into the driveway, and Eva comes to the door looking very much like a suburban mom. A really hot one, but still. She waves, and gives everyone a hug when they come up the steps, Kaz included.

“Everyone else is in the backyard,” she says, and leads them through the house. It’s pretty clean, considering that three six-year-old clones of Jack live here. There are pinups on the walls, but the fully-clothed kind, probably in deference to the children’s tender years. SEMPER FI is scrawled over the kitchen doorway, and WHO DARES, WINS over the back door.

Outside the sunlight is blinding, and there’s a table, some folding chairs, and one of those huge beach umbrellas, thank god. The boys are chasing each other and what must be classmates in circles, and Ocelot seems to be standing as referee, calling to Eli that grabbing hair isn’t a fair move in tag. Jack is at the table with a beer, looking profoundly amused. He has the decency to look a little tense about Kaz approaching, but comes and hugs him anyway.

Kaz mutters, “I trusted you, you son of a bitch, but I’m not gonna give the kids trouble for their birthday,” into his ear, and the way Jack smiles at that is simultaneously irritating and heartwarming.

“I’ve missed you, Kaz,” is what he says, and Kaz isn’t sure if he wants to punch him or hug him again. He settles for putting the cards next to the pile of presents and then standing aside so Quiet can add their contribution. Eva settles beside Jack, stealing a swig of his beer in a way that reminds Kaz of the cute little charm agent she used to be. She'd probably be in his lap if not for all the innocent neighbor kids.

"How did you get out of inviting any parents?" V asks, and Jack grins.

"Just volunteered to bring the little bastards home afterward. Lets us look like real team players _and_ call a halt whenever we want."

"So that was your idea, then," Kaz says to Eva, and she laughs.

"Maybe a little," she coos.

Even if Kaz hadn't been briefed, he would know which ones were Jack's. Besides Eli's reign of terror, one of his brothers is running with a stride alarmingly like Jack's, extremely coordinated for a kid this age and keeping line of sight on the entire group; the third one is crouched on the outskirts of the game, apparently taking a timeout to admire weird bugs with somebody's kid sister. The look on his face reminds Kaz way too much of Jack talking to R and D.

Being around Ocelot always makes Kaz feel like he needs a goddamn shower, but it's totally worth it to watch the poor bastard struggling to peel the clones off of the herd. At last he has to wade in and catch Eli by the back of his shirt, bundling him up into a hug as he complains and struggles just enough to make his views known. Any kid of Jack's could probably knock out a couple of teeth if he was really trying.

"I know," Ocelot says, patting Eli's back, "but you need to come and meet Mr. Miller. Besides, it's almost time for cake."

Jack gets up and collects his sons so that Ocelot doesn't have to turn his back on the mob, and the maelstrom resumes, everyone apparently determined to play tag as hard as possible in the time that's left. The little girl tags along with them, and the one who was her partner in practical entomology takes her grubby little hand in his.

Kaz always hated meeting family friends when he was a kid, and bears the boys no ill-will for their obvious lack of enthusiasm. They already know V and Quiet, of course, but they stare at Kaz for a long time with their piercing blue eyes, while their little friend starts telling V all about the kind of acid trip shit that four-year-olds care about. Kaz tunes it out and stares back at the boys, damned if six-year-olds are gonna make him crack first.

"Dad says you have a totally sweet robot arm," one of them says at last, and Kaz chuckles.

"I do," he says.

"Ocelot says you're a jerk," another one says, and Kaz snorts.

"I never liked him either, so that's fine," he says.

"It would be better if you liked each other," the last one says, a little mournfully, "but okay."

Kaz is glad that the boys are learning to accept the limitations of the adults in their lives. He's also glad to see that there are little bags of party favors to console everyone for having to watch the guests of honor open their presents. Of course V has chosen well, and the boys are happy to get their plastic dinosaurs and little art kits. Kaz is just glad to see that they're mercenary enough to be grateful for a little discretionary income, and Eli actually really likes his card's tinny rendition of Born To Be Wild.

Because Jack can and will eat anything, when it comes to things like birthday cakes he has the sense to defer to his wives. Ocelot may be an asshole, but he has a good palate, and Eva will live out her own princess fantasies through the boys any time they're amenable. Apparently a femmey pink and white cake is fine, as long as the pink is from delicious strawberry frosting, and the boys compete to see who can spit the little sugar pearls the furthest.

Sitting in a sunny suburban yard and making polite conversation with Eva over cake is fucking surreal. Kaz has no idea what the fuck his life even is, now. At first he's not even sure about the exact composition of this tense, angry feeling winding itself tighter and tighter in his guts, but as he watches the boys with Jack, he starts to get some idea. Even in the current carnival atmosphere, Kaz can see that they trust him the way little kids have to trust, and he realizes that if Jack takes advantage of that trust to play any kind of fucking mind games with them, he's going to have to kill him.


	8. Chapter 8

Kaz knows that he's goddamn brooding as they drive home, but he can't seem to stop. He knew this would happen, and probably the best he can do is to keep it to himself. When they pull up the dogs are ecstatic to see him, and that helps a little. He takes them for a run to clear his head, and if he falls down twice because his foot isn't operating at full capacity, nobody else has to know. 

After being shocked the first time, the dogs accept falling on his ass as just something that Kaz does, snuffling and nosing at him until he gets up. Each fall pisses him right the fuck off, but the dogs make him laugh every time, so he's actually in a decent mood by the time they get back. He comes in through the kitchen door, and both cats greet him with thunderous purring, twining around his ankles before touching noses with the dogs, both of whom are done for the day, too old to need any more exercise. DD is even a little lame on his left front paw, and Kaz scurries to get some of his painkiller into a pill pocket.

"You can't let me run you ragged, buddy," Kaz murmurs, petting DD, who just grins and wags. 

Kaz feeds DD his medication and then gives everyone else a token treat to keep them from feeling neglected. He has never been much of a cat guy, but Lucifer and Belial (Quiet had graciously allowed V to name the second cat, and he had decided to stay on theme) are mellow and affectionate, and have taken a shine to Kaz since his first day in the house. Lucifer is weird about eating from people's hands, but Belial nibbles her crumb of dried turkey from between his fingertips. 

He can feel her whiskers where they just brush the metal, and it brings back memories of when the hand was new, when he finally stopped punishing himself and let them fit the thing and calibrate for the first of far too many goddamn times. V had carefully run various textures over the new hand, helping him relearn his sense of touch. He had been so gentle and dedicated that Kaz had almost told him that he loved him. Probably should have, but then Jack had walked in and Kaz had been glad not to be in the middle of anything delicate.

A low humming noise lets him know that Quiet is approaching, and he looks up, feeling a ghost of the hot resentment she used to inspire. He's probably just getting old, but he doesn't really have the energy to hate Quiet anymore, especially when she could effortlessly torture him. He feels a sort of tired, aching fondness for her, and then she stretches her arms in a way that really makes the most of her rack and he hates her all over again. There's a decent chance that it's not even on purpose, and that just makes it worse.

 _Movie night,_ she signs, _You in?_

Kaz nods, standing up. "I reserve the right to leave if the selection sucks," he says, and Quiet just rolls her eyes.

The selection does not suck. It's a weird little low-budget sci-fi thing that makes excellent use of its few assets, and Kaz is glad that it's actually interesting as he sits up on his end of the couch and eats the popcorn that V has made. Eating his goddamn feelings in buttery snack food. He'll have to move out if he starts porking up. His goddamn limbs take enough recalibration as it is. He doesn't turn his head, because he knows that Quiet is watching him. A little shifting sound lets him know that she's probably resting her head on V's shoulder. Fuck it, he married her, she even has legal documents to defend her claim, if it comes up. Kaz just doesn't want to look over and actually observe this little moment of domestic bliss up close, that's all.

There's a little exasperated sort of humming noise, and V nods slowly, like it was some profound thought. Kaz catches the motion out of the corner of his eye and then looks away again, letting out a little yelp as V wraps his arm around Kaz's shoulders. "There are always cuddles on movie night," he rumbles, and while Kaz could fight him, he doesn't really want to. Even with Quiet right on the other side, it's good to lean into V like this.

V lets out a contented sigh, and there's just enough total V real estate that Kaz and Quiet can manage not to touch. Barely. It should be more tense than it is, and Kaz loses a good ten minutes of the film trying to figure out why he isn't more uncomfortable. At least the plot is pretty easy to follow, ripped almost whole from Frankenstein, and he has to admit that there are some things about the way Quiet lives up to her nickname that he does like. She doesn't breathe all loud, or make weird smacking noises when she eats popcorn. Even the crunch is muted. 

Between them, V sinks back into the couch, making a happy little humming noise. He sounds like sitting here and watching weird sci-fi with Kaz on one side and Quiet on the other is all he has ever wanted, and Kaz isn't sure how to cope with that. He's also not sure how to cope with Quiet feeding V popcorn so he doesn't have to let go of either of them, and settles for taking a deep interest in the film. It's nice to see the framing narrative preserved, because it lets them use the novel's ending, with the creature drifting away with its dead creator on an ice raft. Or busted space shuttle, as the case may be.

Kaz flinches a little in surprise when Quiet speaks over the end credits, Russian accent tinting her Japanese in a way that Kaz wishes were more irritating for reasons that have nothing to do with her and everything to do with Ocelot. She has views on the music and lighting choices, and it dawns on Kaz that she wants to share them with him. He wouldn't be able to easily see her signing to V, but he can hear her just fine.


	9. Chapter 9

When his foot starts dropping so badly that he starts tripping over it just walking around the house, even Kaz has to admit that he needs to get it recalibrated. Visits to the doctor are always a little bit like getting a car repaired, these days, and Kaz feels like a shitty loaner car as he stumps out on the cheap walking crutch they've given him. Quiet is waiting for him, because V is a real adult with a normal job and is seeing patients of his own right now.

Kaz heaves himself into the hatchback's passenger seat with a few curses, and then grins because DD is in the back. "Hey, buddy," Kaz croons, petting him, and Quiet chuckles. "Thanks for bringing him," Kaz says, because his mother _tried_ to raise him right, dammit.

"No trouble," Quiet says in her rough, boyish Japanese, and drives them back home, where it turns out that she has a deer draining. 

It should be off-season, but there are so many whitetails around here that it's perfectly legal for Quiet to bag one in July. Kaz helps her butcher it, since he's still got two hands. He also wants to be sure sure it's done right, though Quiet shows as much natural talent for ripping off an animal's skin and hacking it apart at the joints as might be expected. She seems pretty reluctant to let Kaz cook her catch, but she makes a leap of faith and is soon rewarded with the smell of Kazuhira Miller's justifiably famous braised venison.

As Kaz is cutting the fresh green onions that top the finished dish, there's a loud clank as his fucking crutch falls to the floor. He pauses, knife resting on the cutting board, to curse in every language he knows how to curse in, so it includes all that horrible shit Ocelot taught him to say in Portuguese. It's always tricky to retrieve the fucking thing, but it's the worst when he's trying to cook, and will have to wash the damn thing along with his hands. He's just working up the resolve to crouch with his not-a-foot when Quiet comes by and sinks to the floor. The view from standing height is fucking incredible, and that doesn't help Kaz's mood at all. Quiet takes the crutch and rises again, going over to the sink and washing and drying the grip for him. Kaz fucking hates being helped, but she does it the way V would.

"Thank you," he says, and she smiles. 

It's so unusual on her face that Kaz almost jumps, and he sternly reminds himself not to fall for how pretty the expression makes her. God, Quiet's eyes are green; a really arresting, rich, nearly-jade. He realizes that he's been looking into her eyes long enough to really process that, and turns back to his onions. She helped, he managed to thank her like a person, fuck it, he's doing _great_.

At least Quiet dresses for dinner. She's still wearing perilously short cutoffs, but with a t-shirt instead of the usual barely-there arrangements. The effect is actually worse, because it's more disarming, but he's pretty sure it's a real peacemaking effort. She returns his courtesy, eating what he puts in front of her without hesitation. Hell, she goes for seconds, and while nothing is as good as seeing V get to inhale one of his favorite dishes in the world for the first time in almost four years, he does appreciate it.

Gentleman that he is, V volunteers to wash the dishes afterward. Since Kaz cooked and has to waste an arm managing his crutch, he stumps out onto the porch to watch the sunset and give the dogs a chance to take a leak and to snuffle through the underbrush, bathed in rose-gold light. The beagle doesn't fit the demon theme or the 'David Bowie album title reduced to its initials' theme. He arrived with the name Spot, so normal it's a joke, and he will not answer to any other. He looks chunky and suburban next to DD, but the two of them are dear friends in their declining years, and often pause to confer over a particularly interesting scent, grey muzzles inches apart.

There's a soft sound as Quiet opens the door and then shuts it behind herself, but otherwise she comes to lean on the railing beside Kaz in silence. It's way less annoying at a time like this. After a long moment, she gently knocks her shoulder against his, that soft impact of flesh on his metal that has become to familiar over the years.

"May I help you, madam?" he asks in his politest Japanese, and she snorts.

"Thank you for feeding us," she says.

Kaz shrugs, looking away again. "It's really the least I can do," he says, and she chuckles, a barely audible little ripple of a sound. 

Quiet lets the silence stretch out for a while, and then she reaches over and snaps her fingers at Kaz. When he looks around in annoyance, she signs that she's going fishing this weekend. He watches with polite interest, and then almost chokes on his own spit when she goes on to say that if V wants to sleep with him, he actually is allowed to. Kaz stares at her, and she repeats a few key phrases and uses very clear ASL without any homesign and hardly any little RSL touches, which he can believe is honestly hard for her to help.

Kaz does know how to sign 'notarized document,' but through a great act of will, he does not demand one. Instead he gives her his sincerest thanks in Japanese, where they sound better, bows out of reflex, and wishes he could vault the railing and run into the woods. He has to settle for stumping back into the house. V is singing 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' to himself as he hand-washes the cast iron skillet. Kaz should probably go over Quiet's outline of the situation with him, but he just doesn't have the heart when V seems so content.


	10. Chapter 10

Quiet has had to admit to herself that she stopped actually wanting to kill Kaz at all back when she had been crammed into that dank cell on the Diamond Dogs base. No one could actually get through the bars to even try to do anything to her directly, but flashers and creeps hissing about all their ingenious plans for her had been more than obnoxious. When Kaz had caught them at it, his fury had surprised her. At the time he had been a bitchy, stinking shadow of a man, but his apoplectic rage hadn't been all about the lack of professionalism, but also about a certain standard of respect and decency even if Quiet was a 'rabid bitch who would infect you if you touched her anyway.' To this day she's not positive where those guys ended up, but from then on the patrol routes had been shifted to ensure more witnesses in general, more female staff in particular, and higher turnover.

Now that Kaz is staying with them, like a hateful foster cat that Quiet is not at all tempted to keep, she takes V aside one day, while Kaz is busy making coffee and feeding the animals, and makes it very clear to him that if he wants to fuck Kaz and does not do it, she will be very angry. Kaz may be an asshole, but she doesn’t want V cut off from anything or anyone that he loves. Besides, if she has to share a roof with the bastard she wants V to be getting as much out of it as he can.

“Just wear a condom,” she says in Russian, “we don’t know where he’s been.”

“I want to tell you not to be mean,” V says, “but you’re right.”

Quiet snorts. "One of us has to be."

"Mean, or right?" V asks, and she laughs, putting her arms around his neck.

"Both," she says, and kisses him in the sweet, lingering way that always makes him a little weak in the knees.

Once Quiet has given V his permission slip, she hangs around for a couple of days to be sure that they're getting along. She doesn't need to come back from a fishing trip to find them in some kind of epic sulk, or worse yet, Kaz vanishing into the night to do more blow and blow more strangers. She's very pleased to see that both options seem unlikely. Kaz is touchingly grateful not to be chased away from V's side, and Quiet does her best not to press it. Kaz's hissing, ruffled-cat dignity is important to him. The first time V kisses him in front of her, for a second or two Quiet is worried that it's going to turn into a fistfight. And then Kaz relaxes and Quiet experiences the very strange sensation of being proud of him. V kisses Quiet as soon as he's done with Kaz, and she can feel those weird, pale eyes on them in turn. Quiet has always been better at ignoring Kaz than he is at ignoring her, for obvious reasons.

These days Kaz seems to have revised his opinion of her. It's probably just because she doesn't let her own dislike of him get in the way of taking care of V, but it still makes things a little easier day to day, even if the bastard does listen to actual recordings of train sounds. He's as much of a dork as V, that must be the attraction. She may not really hate him anymore, but it's still going to be nice to get out of the house for a couple of days.

The thing about fishing is that it's best to start early, so Quiet slips out of bed at four am, pleased to see that the weather forecast for cool and rainy was correct. Her gear is already packed, so all she really needs to do is feed the animals and leave a note. The dogs whine at being abandoned, but it's a real hike to her best fishing spot, with a surprising amount of vertical. Besides, Kaz and V might need the genuinely nonverbal company and the distraction from each other.

As has happened before and will surely happen again, success is Quiet's problem. Ice is civilization, and hers is all packed around fish much more quickly than she thought it would be. She wanted to give the boys a full two days, but she has to get these coolers home. Hauling them all the way back down again eats up some time, and she spends most of it debating whether or not to call ahead. She's stealthy, if they're in the middle of something and she doesn't call, she might be able to hide out in the basement without disturbing them, and that's if their phones are even on. She hopes V will have the sense to unplug the landline if he's really going after Kaz. The ring is annoying, and no seduction attempt should be left to the mercy of telemarketers and political campaigns.

Quiet parks in the driveway, because opening the garage door might alert them. It's a little like photography, and she smiles as she laboriously drags the coolers in through the human-sized door, thinking of V and Kaz as a pair of rare birds. She stacks her neat, labeled packages up in the chest freezer reserved for this year's meat, and takes her time about putting her gear away. She's hoping that by the time she steps out of the garage and into the house everyone will be fully clothed or at least shuffling around in bathrobes, but no such luck. Soft, formless cries are echoing down the hall from the room that has become Kaz's. Quiet supposes that she couldn't have expected him to be comfortable in what he surely thinks of as her territory. 

Kaz sounds completely undone, high and soft like V gets sometimes when Quiet has three fingers in him up to the knuckle and slaps his face with the other hand. Only on the left side, on the right it bothers the plate in his head. She can make out rhythmic slapping now, thanks to her enhanced hearing, but can't be sure if Kaz can take a lot more to the face or if V is spanking him, and isn't that a hell of a thought.

Quiet should be too far away to hear all the details when Kaz starts begging, but that's what she gets for being so cozy with The One That Covers. Kaz sounds broken open, helpless and near tears as he pleads for V to fuck him, that he needs it so bad and that V is the only one who can get inside him without hurting him and _please_. His voice is so rough and needy that Quiet almost doesn't recognize it, and it turns into a high, desolate, quavering noise that must mean V is still teasing him.

“I don’t hurt you because I make you wait,” V says, sounding so calm and reasonable that Kaz lets out another sharp, anguished whine.

“Please,” Kaz whimpers again, and then he might be biting the pillow to shut himself up, it's hard to say. There's a muffled wail of longing, breathless silence, and finally a strangled noise of desperation that turns into a deep, helpless moan.

Quiet realizes that she can feel her heartbeat in her cunt and that she should probably retreat to the basement to give them real privacy. The animals have gathered hopefully around her feet, and are glad to follow her down the stairs to flop onto the various old dog beds while she just leans against the wall for a moment because she actually feels a little faint, like there really isn’t enough blood left in her head. 

Fuck, who knew Kaz could be so goddamn adorable? She has always had the feeling that Kaz might break down to be a real sweetheart, but she never thought anything could make it seem worth the trouble. She shudders and takes a deep breath, aching and wet. She’d take a seat on the couch, but she’s afraid of leaving a stain. God, this is terrible. She cannot be turned on by Kazuhira Miller. This is not happening.


	11. Chapter 11

V has always enjoyed watching Kaz sleep, and he has had plenty of chances. Between medically-indicated bed rest and the drugged way Kaz passes out after sex, he is intimately familiar with the sulky downturn of Kaz's relaxed mouth and the particular dark gold of his eyelashes, the kind that are so long that people say they're wasted on a man. As far as V is concerned, this set couldn't have been better placed. 

V presses a kiss to that little frown line that was etched in permanently when Kaz lost his limbs, and then carefully, carefully works himself out of bed. He doesn't want to let Kaz go for anything, but he also really has to pee. It's a delicate task, but at last he's free and Kaz is curled up comfortably. V leans down and kisses his cheek, and then finds a steno pad, tearing a blank page out of the back and scribbling a quick note:

_If you wake up and I'm not here, I'll be right back._

_Love, V_

He leaves it on the nightstand and tiptoes out to the bathroom. Once he's done pissing what feels like a gallon and has washed his hands, he steps out, and a glance out the window lets him know that Quiet is back. He feels a little guilty for not going right back to Kaz, but he'll probably be out for hours.

After a quick search, V isn't surprised to find Quiet in the basement with the animals. She's sitting on the couch, sharpening a large knife in a way that would probably look threatening to someone who didn't know her so well. V sees it for the nervous habit that it is, and goes to her, making sure to make some noise. She doesn't flinch when his shadow falls across her, but she doesn't look up, either, the slithery metallic sound of the knife filling the silence. 

V sits on the arm of the couch, resting his arm on the back and watching Quiet work. She's upset about _something_ , but under the circumstances it's hard to be sure what. She might be more jealous than she realized, she might have encountered any number of things out in the world to upset her, it could be almost anything, and so V waits for her. She starts to relax a little, and then slides the knife into its sheath with a soft sigh. V makes an inquiring humming noise, and Quiet draws her long legs up, biting her lip. V puts a hand on her shoulder and she shivers. Oh, now it makes sense. She must have overheard.

V repeats that inquiring little hum, and Quiet snorts softly. She gives him an eloquent look, all dilated pupils and light flush, and now he knows for a fact that she heard.

 _Have a good time?_ she asks, beautiful hands sliding through the small, endearingly sloppy gestures of the homesign the two of them have evolved over the years. He nods, unable to keep the goofy smile off of his face. Quiet rolls her eyes, and holds one hand steady and slaps it with the other, making that distinct flesh-on-flesh noise, raising an eyebrow.

V can feel himself blushing a bit, but he also grins. "Yeah, that's... well, he'd probably be mad at me for telling you, but he does love to get spanked." He's surprised at the way Quiet bites her lip, and then it hits him and he is very, very careful not to grin.

Quiet groans, and cradles her head in her hands, cursing softly in Russian. "God fucking damn it," she says at last, "I cannot be turned on by Kazuhira Miller. This is not happening."

Hilarious as this is, V leans over and kisses the top of Quiet's head. She shifts away from the arm of the chair, pulling V with her so that he slides onto the cushions beside her. Once they're on the same level, she climbs into his lap and curls up, sulking. In some ways, she and Kaz are a lot alike. V just holds her and hums in the same soothing way she does for him when he has nightmares and when he gets confused about who he is.

After a little while, Quiet starts to confess her sins in homesign, that she got wet enough to worry about the furniture, that she wanted to put her hand around Kaz's throat, to feel it when he makes those sounds. V can't help shivering at the image, and murmurs, "You know I'd love that."

Quiet lets out a small, hungry sound, and shifts to straddle V's lap, pulling him into a kiss. Quiet always kisses V like she wants all of him, like he's not allowed to do anything but let her have him, and this time is no exception. V moans and melts into it, tipping his head back and instinctively gripping her ass even as he thinks that he should get back to Kaz, not risk him waking up alone. Still, they should have a few minutes, anyway. V is always helpless against Quiet, and he doesn't try to stop any of the noises she coaxes out of him as she grinds on him. He'll be good to go again, but not this soon even with Quiet all over him. She knows that, but likes to get what she can out of him. Now he kneads her ass and moans as she grinds on his thigh until she she gasps and shudders and comes in convulsive silence. 

V aches a little, spent cock valiantly struggling to rise again, but he's going to need at least an hour. He can't help feeling a little apologetic about that, gazing into Quiet's eyes. She smiles, and taps the tip of his nose like a gentle admonishment given to a very small puppy. He grins, feeling very silly and very loved. He rests his forehead against Quiet's, and for a long moment they just breathe together.

"Green-eyed lady," he murmurs, "my sunlit forest." He kisses her again and then reluctantly straightens up, pushing her just a little away, his hands on her shoulders. "I..."

She just rolls her eyes and makes her namesign for Kaz. It's not very flattering, the letter K placed on her forehead like both a beret and the infamous L for loser, her face crunched into a scowl, but V can't say he doesn't understand it. "Yes," V says, and Quiet smiles.

 _Go to Kaz and cuddle him. He needs it,_ Quiet signs, and V kisses her again.

 _I love you,_ he signs, and slides out from under her.

V washes his hands on the way to Kaz, not out of any kind of guilt, but out of courtesy. Being bathed in Quiet's scent is overwhelming, and if V ever overwhelms Kaz, he wants it to be in a good way. For now he's just glad that Kaz is still asleep, even if he's frowning a little, like his sleeping mind is dimly beginning to comprehend that he's wrapped around a pillow and not V. V smiles and gently slides the pillow out of Kaz's grip, snuggling into Kaz's arms in its place. Kaz makes a cute little noise that V has never heard from him when he's awake enough to stop it, right leg and arm both wrapping around V and clinging tightly.

"It's okay, Kaz," V murmurs, and kisses the top of his head. Kaz's hair is always so nice and soft without product in it, and V nuzzles into it with a happy rumble that makes Kaz sigh in his sleep, a sound of such unguarded relaxation that it breaks V's heart.


	12. Chapter 12

When Kaz wakes up in V’s arms, he has a flash of existential vertigo, not sure if he’s really here or back in any number of the terrible situations where he had dreamed of V and had to wake up from it. He clings like he’s trying to keep from falling, and V hushes him and just barely rocks him and murmurs that he’s here and awake and safe, the way he had done when Kaz was a ragged shadow of himself, terrified of sedatives and agitated without them. Kaz can’t help a little whimper of helpless gratitude, and lifts his head from V’s shoulder to kiss him, bristly and warm and perfect. V rumbles happily and runs his fingers through Kaz’s hair. 

V is so massive, this big, tigerlike pile of muscle, but always so gentle, and so much sweeter than Kaz has ever deserved. Kaz tugs at him, needing all that weight and power over him, pressing him into the mattress. V obediently shifts onto him, and Kaz moans quietly, the sound as much about comfort as lust. He’s about half hard again and even if V always takes longer, he’s sure they could work something out. He rocks his hips a little, and V shivers, letting out a soft sigh. He looks slightly regretful, though, as he gazes down into Kaz’s eyes, stroking his hair back with one gentle hand.

“Quiet is back,” he says, “if that’s going to affect your decision-making process.”

Kaz lets out an exasperated groan, because it probably should affect his decision-making process, and he doesn’t want it to. He grinds up against V with another barely-audible moan and lets his eyes close again. Even if round two is a terrible idea, they can still just take a minute. He relaxes into it for a moment, and then his eyes fly open and he looks over at the clock.

“Dammit, it’s not even five!”

“She does too well sometimes,” V says, propped on his elbows over Kaz, “runs out of ice. She’s hanging out in the basement with the animals, even she won’t be able to hear anything.”

“...I’m not sure how I feel about making your wife hide out,” Kaz mutters. Goddammit why can’t he just take a gift when it’s offered? V chuckles in a way that makes Kaz kind of want to bite him. And not a sexy bite. “Well fuck me for having some scruples!” Kaz snaps. “Marriage is a sacred thing, dammit.”

“...Kaz,” V says, sounding more amused than ever, “haven’t you slept with married women?” V knows damn well that he has, and Kaz glowers up at him. 

“It takes two to tango and I never said I wasn’t an asshole,” he grumbles, and V laughs.

“Quiet doesn’t have to hide out, she just wants to give you some privacy,” he says, and Kaz can feel the tips of his ears going red because he knows how loud he was earlier. Since the day he discovered it he has never stopped being embarrassed about how fucking good it feels to be spanked, but nowhere near embarrassed enough to stop doing it.

“She’s going to come back up at about seven when otherwise we probably wouldn’t have seen her before tomorrow morning, don’t worry.”

“When you find me cut up in one of those chest freezers I want you to remember this conversation,” Kaz says, even as he presses up against V again. Really, if threats to his life were going to make him come down even from half-mast, pretty much everything would be different. 

V sighs, and gives Kaz more of his weight. Right after the Soviets got through with him Kaz couldn’t do this, thanks to body memories of some of the fuckers lying on him to keep him still for the cutting because they wouldn’t share their opium or even get him blackout drunk, and he _knows_ they had had enough vodka to manage that. Now he revels in being able to use V for a blanket again, warmth and pressure and his comforting smell. He growls happily, and V chuckles.

“Comfortable?” he asks, and Kaz presses a kiss to the stubbly underside of his jaw.

“Yeah,” he murmurs, and then moans quietly as V rocks against him, both of them a bit more than half-hard now. “Mmm, she gonna be mad if you can’t get it up later?”

“My jaw isn’t broken,” V says, and Kaz shudders and bites his neck. He kind of wants to know how Quiet tastes, but it would be beyond tacky to ask.

As desperate as Kaz was to get fucked, usually when it’s him and V, V is the one on the bottom. He’s just less tense all over, or something. Now he lets Kaz roll him onto his back and peel off the pajama pants he must have put on some time after Kaz fell asleep. Maybe he wore them to greet Quiet. Whatever, they’re off now, and V is mostly hard. Kaz is still pretty quick to start even if he is really getting old now, and V chuckles when Kaz sits back, because his pulse is visible in his cock.

“Hey,” Kaz says, “take it as a compliment.”

“Oh, I do,” V says, and sighs happily as Kaz settles between his legs. 

It has always been funny and hot at the same time, how such a huge, burly guy spreads out so pretty. Kaz smiles down at him and V beams back. When Kaz rubs one slick fingertip in slow circles over his hole, V groans and bites his lip, squirming a little. He grips Kaz’s shoulders and then slides his palms up the sides of Kaz’s neck before burying his fingers in Kaz’s hair. He moans and gives it a gentle tug when Kaz pushes two fingers into him, and keeps tugging as Kaz works him open. He pulls just hard enough for the feeling to shiver its way down Kaz’s spine, and Kaz moans quietly as he twists his hand, adding a third finger. V shudders, panting harshly and pulling harder. Fuck, Kaz has missed this.

Once Kaz is sure he has V open enough, he rolls on a condom. Even though all his blood tests have come back clear, he’s technically just borrowing V, and needs to take that into account. V whimpers when Kaz ruts along him without pressing in, and it would serve him right if Kaz teased him longer, but he doesn’t have the heart. Instead, he makes sure the lube is nicely spread, and then pushes in. V is so hot and so tight that Kaz can’t help a long, quavering sigh with a little sob near the end of it, because this is so fucking good, it always was so fucking good and how the hell did Kaz manage to stay away as long as he did, even with all the lies? 

V can take and love a good pounding, but he needs to start slow, and now Kaz is very gentle with him, keeping the pace down and staying deep until V is digging his blunt nails into Kaz’s shoulders and panting for him to speed up, crying out when he does. Kaz has always loved the soft, high sounds he can get out of V, and fucks him until he’s voicing each exhale, helpless little noises that make Kaz moan as he grips V’s cock, stroking him faster and faster in time to his own movements until he comes all over himself, groaning like it hurts. Kaz shudders and kisses his slack mouth, thrusting into him a few more times before he’s shaking his way through his own climax, trying to keep his voice down.


	13. Chapter 13

Kaz can’t help falling asleep again, and it’s probably for the best. He wakes up with DD cuddled in next to him and a note from V on the nightstand, about how he and Quiet are cooking dinner and will save some for him if he’s not up by about seven. It’s seven-ten by the clock, and he lurches up. He’s remembering why he tries not to sleep in his limbs, even if they do let him plow V like he did back when he was young and even dumber than he is now. 

At least now it’s a good thing his leg is in the shop, it’s only his shoulder that aches like a rotten tooth. Facing Quiet while down an arm doesn’t sound too fucking great, but he has to pull it off. He hates the feeling of moving around without at least one prosthetic because the last time he was living that life was no fun whatsoever, but he has to admit that it hurts a lot less as he pulls on some clothes and then stumps his way down the stairs. Hopefully there’s a knork or two in the house.

The smell of fresh fish reminds Kaz that his last meal was eight hours ago and that he has fucked twice in that time, and he gimps his way to the kitchen as quickly as he can without looking ridiculous. V and Quiet are still at the table, and V gives him one of those stupidly radiant smiles, getting up to kiss him hello and then ask what he wants to drink. Kaz opts to have whatever they’re having, which turns out to be beer. Fine by him. And there are a few knorks tucked away in a drawer, because even V can’t always keep his prosthetic out of the shop.

“Sorry about your shoulder,” V says, “but I figured I shouldn’t take your limbs off when you’re asleep.”

“You’re probably right,” Kaz says, and then, “Thank you,” when V presses a knork into his hand and pulls a cold bottle out of the fridge.

“You’re welcome,” V says, and motions for Kaz to sit down. 

There’s no excuse not to, one seat away from Quiet. V passes her the bottle so she can open it for him with her fancy fucking two hands, and starts humming what Kaz dimly recognizes as ‘Dancing Queen’ as he loads a generous plate like the old mother hen he has always been. Kaz risks a sidelong glance at Quiet, and she smiles at him. It’s not as guileless and sweet as V’s because no one’s is, but it’s surprisingly close.

“This is the least frowny I’ve ever seen you,” Quiet says in Japanese, and Kaz chuckles.

“I wasn’t at my best when we met,” he tells her, and then rolls his eyes at her emphatic nod. “Give me a break,” he says, switching back to English, “it had been a really bad couple of years.” And Quiet hadn’t helped, but she’s helping now, so Kaz is going to keep his fucking mouth shut for once in his life. Quiet doesn’t exactly burst into apologetic tears over her role in making that year bite so particularly hard, but she actually reaches out and pats Kaz’s intact shoulder, smart enough not to touch either of his stumps unless he says she can.

“Here,” V says softly, and sets a plate in front of Kaz. It’s some kind of still life of semi-rural American domesticity, perfect golden fish, fresh greens, and chunky oven fries. He thanks V quietly, and then devours every bit, as gracefully as he can when he’s this hungry. He feels like a stray being fed, and Quiet watches him the way she would probably watch some bedraggled animal making the most of V’s largesse. It’s not nearly as irritating as it should be.

That night Kaz is only sharing his bed with DD, but that’s okay. The old dog cuddles close to him and breathes in a slow, soothing rhythm. Kaz abruptly thinks again about DD’s great age, and actually kisses his old grey head, stroking his ears and telling him that he is not just a good dog, he is _the single best dog in the universe._ DD grins and wags his tail, and Kaz chuckles.

The next few days are really weird, but not in a bad way. A way that's excruciating sometimes, but not actually bad. He and Quiet settle into a one night on, one night off sort of time share, and if they hear each other sometimes, they pretend not to. Even if Quiet sometimes lets out this low, penetrating growl that affects Kaz like a touch. It really doesn’t help that she’s nicer to him day to day now, and touches him more, in a carefully offhand way, like she wants him to be very sure that she isn’t going to chop him up and freeze him. Then again, she could just be lulling him into a false sense of security.

It’s on one of the off nights that Kaz gets to see how much of Ocelot’s handiwork is still there. He’s curled up with DD, trying to read, when he hears footsteps. It’s long past tonight’s round of noise, and V at least should be asleep by now. There’s a heavy, stumbling sound to the footsteps that Kaz does not like at all, and he sets his book aside and grabs his crutch, thumping out toward the kitchen as he hears quicker, lighter footfalls that must be Quiet. Kaz reaches V first, where he’s standing in the kitchen doorway like a puppet with its strings cut.

“...V?” V raises his head and opens his eyes, but no one is home. There’s a glassy sheen to them that Kaz doesn’t like at all.

“Ice is heavier than water,” V says, and he’s doing his best Jack impression and it makes Kaz’s fucking skin crawl.

“No it isn’t,” he snaps, even though this isn’t about logic and he knows he’s not helping. V just stares at him with those glass eyes, and under the stupor he looks so heartrendingly confused.

“Kaz...” It comes out somewhere between his own thoughtful rumble and Jack’s voice.

“Yeah,” Kaz says cupping V’s chin in his hand, staring into his eyes. “Come on, V.” He’s not sure what else to say, and looks up when Quiet comes in. She looks very young, barefoot and pale in the dark. “Quiet, I’m not sure what to do here,” Kaz says, still staring into V’s eyes, like he might escape if Kaz doesn’t keep him pinned here with his gaze. He’s not expecting a verbal answer and doesn’t get one. Quiet just steps up behind V and wraps her arms around him. She’s so fucking tall that her face is nestled into V’s hair as she sets up a tuneless hum, one hand rubbing a slow circle on his chest. “V?” Kaz hears himself whispering, and V’s eyes close as he pulls in a deep breath.

“Kaz,” he says again, but this time he sounds like himself. “I… Sleepwalking again. Okay.” While he puts it all together in his own head, Quiet just keeps humming, rocking a little bit on her feet and taking V’s larger frame with her.

“Okay?” Kaz murmurs after a while.

“Yeah,” V says, and he sounds incredibly tired. “...Kaz, would you come back to bed with us? That’s all right, isn’t it, Quiet?”

“Mmhm,” Quiet says, still holding him.

“Okay,” V mumbles, and then he smiles, open and sweet and nothing like Jack. He looks kind of like he used to back at the end of a long shift putting Diamond Dogs back together. Worn out but like it was all worth it. Kaz wants to kiss him so badly that he does. At first it feels like a terrible idea, but then V sighs into his mouth, and takes Kaz’s flesh hand in his metal one. “Come on,” he says softly, and the three of them turn and go upstairs together, Quiet holding V’s other hand. Kaz doesn’t even have to whistle for DD. He’s waiting for them on the landing, and he wags his tail, following them into the bedroom. It does smell like Quiet in here, but it smells like V, too, and the bed is just big enough for the four of them. 

Quiet sits V down on the edge of the bed and tenderly detaches his arm, kissing his forehead. Kaz crawls in on the other side, propping his crutch against the wall and removing his own arm, resting it on its knuckles in the usual way while Quiet sets V’s on the dresser. That’s probably where it was when he grabbed it and put it in on in his fugue state. Without a sock, too, and when V stretches out beside him, Kaz takes the reddened stump in his hand and presses a kiss to it. V sighs, and they make a warm pile around him, Kaz on his left, Quiet on his right, and DD at their feet. V nuzzles into Quiet’s hair, and tugs Kaz in closer, so his head is resting over V’s heart.


	14. Chapter 14

Kaz wakes up slowly, and at first everything is fine. Better than fine, he’s cuddled in close to V, and one of Quiet’s arms is draped over him, that female texture he has missed so much. Powerful, but still gracile and sleek. He sighs and nuzzles his face into V’s chest hair before he remembers last night and his stomach drops. He has been helping to wear V down so much that Ocelot’s conditioning is coming back on him. Fuck.

He tries to sit up, and Quiet’s arm around him is suddenly like steel. He flicks his eyes up, meeting her green gaze across V. Christ, she’s beautiful. More than ever like this, first thing in the morning with her hair everywhere. _Stay,_ she signs, and Kaz stays, even if he can’t help glancing up at V’s sleeping face with his entire truckload of guilt. Quiet’s fingertips slap his cheek, very gently, and he takes it as the call to attention that it is, looking back to her. She nods, and then strokes his cheek with the same hand, just sort of petting his stubble along the grain. It feels nice, even if it’s weird as fuck. 

Kaz watches Quiet, unsure what this even is, and she just smiles. Her fingertips trail from his cheek to the corner of his mouth, and then she’s running the first two along his lips like she just wants to learn their texture, and Kaz trembles. He feels kind of like he’s in the presence of some gorgeous and deadly wild animal, and should just stay still and not make a sound.

Quiet gently pushes at the seam of his lips, silently asking permission, and Kaz is torn between being angry with her for thinking he’s easy, being angrier with himself because she’s right, or just letting her in. And then V’s stump is pressing lightly on his head, gentle and clumsy encouragement to stay right where he is. Kaz risks a glance up and V smiles down at him, sleepy and unfocused but nothing like last night. 

Kaz’s lips part of their own volition, and Quiet’s fingers slip between them like they belong there. He can feel the ridges of her fingerprints on his tongue, and lets his eyes flutter shut. It feels good, lying here with V pressed full-length against him, Quiet’s fingers slowly stroking his mouth. If he just feels, lets all the rest of it go, this is good. He slides his tongue between Quiet’s fingers and she caresses it in return before pushing down, the pads of her fingers pressing at the root of his tongue. She eases off and then pushes down again, a little harder. Kaz can’t help making a little whimpering noise in his throat as Quiet starts really fucking his mouth now, in long, slow thrusts. Kaz tends to wake up hard anyway, and each pulse of pressure is going straight to his cock.

“Beautiful,” V rumbles, shifting his thigh so that Kaz can press against it for some relief. Kaz tries to resist the urge, but ends up rocking his hips and moaning softly. He can’t help it when Quiet is adding a third finger, stretching his lips and stroking the inside of his cheeks. 

V chuckles. “That’s right, Kaz, suck her,” he says, and Kaz can’t help a sharp whine as he obeys. 

Quiet lets out a low, quivering sigh, and Kaz opens his eyes, gazing into hers as he sucks on her fingers. Her pupils are huge and her cheeks are flushed, and that’s what gives him the courage to slide his hand across V’s chest, pausing to pinch his nipples because there’s no way he can resist that, and then to grip Quiet’s shoulder. Her skin is so perfectly smooth it almost pisses him off, and then she’s guiding him to cup her right breast and he feels like he’ll never be angry again. Her nipple is so hard it must ache, and Kaz soothes it in the hollow of his palm, feeling out the softness and shape of her. 

Of course Quiet’s tits are fantastic. Even back when he had genuinely hated her, Kaz had had to admit that her rack was a stunning feat of natural architecture. Now he gently grips and kneads her, sprawling across V to reach better. He can’t say that groping Quiet has never crossed his mind, not even in the bad old days, but any and all imaginings fall far short of the reality. He makes happy, muffled noises around her fingers and V sighs, tightening his arm around Quiet to bring her closer, She shivers and presses into Kaz’s touch, sliding her fingers out of his mouth and biting her lip at the bereft little noise Kaz can’t help making. She signs a good morning to V, and then smiles across him at Kaz, the two of them almost kissing close, now.

Kaz wishes he had both hands on, so he could effectively sign. It feels like some kind of intrusion to speak, but he finally whispers, “What is this?”

Quiet rolls her eyes, and signs to V for a while, homesign and RSL too quick to follow. Bitch. V chuckles, and Kaz just doesn’t have the heart to be mad at him, too, and settles for giving him a wounded look that makes him pet Kaz’s hair as best he can with his bad arm. 

“I’m sorry I scared you, Kaz,” he says, so fucking sweet that it makes Kaz want to hurl himself out the window. “But you know, any life change is stressful, and that includes good ones.”

“Does it include being worn to a shadow between your wife and your old war buddy?”

“You were always more than that to me, Kaz,” he rumbles, and that’s just not fair. Kaz hides his face in V’s chest for a minute, cursing his ability to be near tears and rock hard at the same time. Quiet starts petting his hair like they do this every day, and for a while Kaz just breathes, struggling to maintain some kind of control over himself.

V asks Quiet to get his hand for him, and then there’s a listening silence and he chuckles softly. “If you want to,” he says, and then he’s speaking to Kaz again, his voice so gentle as he asks, “Kaz, is it all right if Quiet gives you a hand?” 

Even as he speaks, Quiet is reaching down and across in a way that Kaz can’t mistake, and it’s fucking unbearable, how enmeshed they are, that Quiet will do this for V, will insinuate that deadly hand of hers into Kaz’s boxers and grip him where he’s hard and wet. It’s pretty embarrassing to gasp like some untouched kid, but he can’t help it, shaking and bucking in her grip. Quiet has huge hands for a girl because she’s huge, engulfing Kaz in this one-handed grip in a way women usually can’t manage. She gives him a slow, firm squeeze and he moans quietly, his hips setting up a steady rocking without any input from his brain. He can feel Quiet’s warm breath on his face, and opens his eyes to see her watching him, more flushed than ever. She looks so soft this way, so unlike her usual untouchable self that Kaz closes the tiny distance still remaining, pressing his mouth to hers. 

Even for Kaz first kiss after the commencement of first handjob is pretty backward, but Quiet doesn’t seem to mind. Her mouth is softer and sweeter than Kaz’s guiltiest dreams, and she pushes her tongue into his mouth, taking control in a way that makes his whole body go warm and loose. Quiet makes a sound somewhere between a hum and a moan, pushing herself into Kaz’s hand when he starts groping her again. She shudders when he pinches her nipple, gently rolling it between his fingertips and whimpering into her mouth as she rubs her thumb in slow circles on his slit. Quiet grips him more tightly and speeds up, so sudden and so sharp that he makes a helpless, yelping little noise into her mouth. It would be too rough if Kaz wasn’t so wet. As it is he squeezes Quiet and she shudders, biting his lower lip.

V trembles under them, his truncated arm holding Kaz close. “You’re so beautiful together,” he breathes, and he strokes their hair and murmurs about how much he loves them both and how much he wants to see Kaz let go, that Quiet wants to see it too, that she wants to be the one to make it happen, that Kaz is so fucking beautiful when he comes. Quiet sinks her teeth into the side of Kaz’s neck and that’s it, he’s crying out and coming so hard it makes his ears ring.


	15. Chapter 15

For some fucking reason Kaz can’t stop whimpering, pathetic little noises every few breaths, but at least V and Quiet don’t seem to mind. Quiet kisses Kaz’s forehead and rolls out of bed, grabbing V’s prosthetic and a sock for it off the top of the dresser, passing them to V.

“Thank you, green-eyed lady,” he says, and there’s the soft sound of Quiet kissing him before she saunters off to the bathroom. V sighs like there is nothing else he wants in the universe, and puts on his arm. It would be easier without Kaz clinging to him like a limpet, but he doesn’t make any attempt to free himself. “Sweetheart,” he says at last, wrapping both arms around Kaz and rubbing his back, and Kaz lets out a shaky laugh. V chuckles, stroking Kaz’s hair. “That’s better. Was that too much, honey?”

Kaz shakes his head, and laughs again. “I just-- I don’t-- Fuck all these goddamn _feelings_ , man.” He sighs. “I’d worry about whether or not Quiet even wanted to do that, but...”

V chuckles. “I think you’ll know just how much when she gets back. Rest while you can.”

Kaz shivers, wincing and letting out a quiet groan as his dick makes a valiant effort to get hard again. Never let it be said that Kazuhira Miller left a lady hanging. “Fuck...” he breathes, and then sits up and immediately regrets it because the room is full of morning sun. He slams his eyes shut, hissing and covering them with his forearm.

“Here,” V says, and carefully slides Kaz’s shades on for him. 

He opens his eyes and sighs in relief. “Thanks,” he whispers, and puts on his arm, grimacing at the way his boxers are stuck to him. Well, fuck it, V has seen the whole show and Quiet just jerked it off, so Kaz might as well peel the fabric away from his tender skin and just be naked. Too bad he doesn’t have his foot, but if he has to choose which prosthetic to have in working order for sex, it’s no contest.

As soon as Quiet has come sauntering back from the bathroom, Kaz flees into it. He does actually need to take a leak, but he also needs to take a few deep breaths and splash some cold water on his face. It’s kind of hilarious, how little game he has these days.

When Kaz gets back to them, they’re both completely naked and so fucking gorgeous that it’s really not fair. V is kneeling over Quiet, clinging to the headboard as she works two long fingers into his ass. He’s rock hard and as Kaz watches, a single perfect drop of slick drips from the tip of his cock onto Quiet’s tits. Kaz can’t help a little grinding noise in his throat, and Quiet turns her head to give him a lazy, predatory smile. She licks between the first two fingers of her free hand and then takes a dental dam out of the nightstand, holding it out to Kaz as V makes the kind of high, soft noise that the uninitiated would think he was incapable of.

“Yes ma’am, thank you ma’am,” Kaz says, and he’s barely even joking. 

Kaz hates not being able to taste it when he goes down on someone, but it’s still definitely worth doing. He crawls between Quiet’s mile-long legs, and his mouth actually waters at the scent of her. She slides her feet over Kaz’s shoulders and down his back like she owns him, and he shudders, settling into place. He pushes his glasses up onto his head, spreads the hateful latex over Quiet’s gorgeous cunt, and starts to just touch her with his lips, gauging her sensitivity and spreading her a little wider. She has one of those little pearl-like clits, incongruously dainty and cute, and he’s careful with it as he learns what kind of touches she likes. She’s not very loud, but squeezes him with her legs as her breathing goes from almost inaudible to quick, harsh panting. 

Kaz makes a happy sound deep in his chest and grips Quiet’s ass in his hands, holding her hips in place as he rolls his tongue over and over her clit and then flicks it down to her hole and pushes in, fucking her with it as she groans and makes V cry out, the headboard creaking in his grip. Kaz hums, sinking into his task. There are few things he loves more than eating pussy, and he gives Quiet his best effort, genuinely grateful to her. He kneads her ass in his hands and presses her into his mouth, following her reactions and testing every part of her with his tongue. 

There’s a pointed press between the inner and outer lips that Quiet loves, pushing into it almost hard enough to smother him and letting out low, harsh cries, one right after the other as she digs her heels into his back, her thighs trembling around his head. Kaz purrs and makes the same strokes on the other side before rolling her clit on the flat of his tongue again. She spasms and grinds on him with a quavering cry, and he can feel her clenching again and again, hard and involuntary. He licks her through it, fast and steady, and then backs off a little in case she’s the type that gets oversensitive after she comes. He’s not all that surprised when Quiet turns out to be the type to want seconds, and he’s happy to oblige. 

Above him Kaz can hear V panting and whimpering, and he can feel his motions on the mattress as he fucks himself on Quiet’s fingers, sweetly shameless as ever. Kaz spares a thought for DD’s outraged virtue, but the old dog has long since made himself scarce. It’s even odds whether it’s his own instinctive good manners, or if Ocelot trained him to get out of the way of any fucking going on. The view, when Kaz tips his shades down and looks up (Quiet isn’t quite up for thirds) is spectacular as ever. The worst thing about man-ass, if you ask Kaz, is that it’s not thick and curvy enough. V really does have that covered beautifully, and Kaz realizes that he’s hard again, because his dick is never going to stop getting him in trouble. V looks over his shoulder at Kaz, and Kaz grins at him.

“I’m not proud,” he says, and pauses to work his jaw from side to side a couple of times, “or tired. Eat you too, if you want.”

V makes a tortured little noise and grabs at Kaz’s shoulder, hauling him up to kiss him, Kaz’s mouth muffling a high-pitched cry as Quiet’s hand speeds up. “O-oh...” V whimpers when their lips part, and then Quiet snaps her fingers. V looks around and watches her one-handed signing. “She s-says, says, why not make a sandwich?”

“Really?” Kaz asks, looking around V’s shoulder at Quiet. She nods, and raises an eyebrow at him like she thinks he’s going to bitch out this late in the game. “Okay,” he says, and holds out a hand. Quiet does not have to be told to pass him a condom and the lube, sliding out of V and wiping her fingers as he trembles, but holds position like the good boy he always has been. 

Kaz sighs, pressing a kiss to one heavy shoulder, and then rolls the condom on and slicks up. V whines, and Kaz shuffles backward so that V can do the same, stretching out on Quiet and trembling slightly as she wraps her long arms around him. They look good together, and it’s kind of weird that Kaz is going to be a part of it. But Quiet just stares him down, and he can’t let her win. He strokes V with a couple of fingers and then pushes in. Quiet has him nice and stretched, and he makes a low, helpless sound as Kaz’s fingers slip out again. Kaz hushes him, nibbling at the edge of his ear for a moment before lining up and pressing in. V groans, and then Quiet shifts under them and V gets louder as he slides into her. Bareback, makes sense. V’s balls are as fried as Jack’s, and he and Quiet have been exclusive for a while. Shit, Kaz should get more blood tests. Just to be extra sure. Not that he even knows what Quiet _can_ catch. And then he forgets everything because it’s always so fucking good to be inside V. 

Kaz groans and lets his head drop to rest between V’s shoulder blades and just rocks slow and deep. Kaz has always been closer to liking it rough than not, but something about V slows him down every time, makes him feel like it’s easy to come without a little pain for spice. It’s almost sleepy, sometimes, with V, and now Kaz sighs, knowing this slow rocking will get him there eventually. No hurry. And then he feels Quiet’s hands on his back. 

She’s not just holding V now, but both of them, with her arms and with those miles and miles of fucking legs. Two reasons right there that he hated her in the beginning, God. They’re so smooth and strong and-- whatever else Kaz was thinking goes out the window as Quiet digs her nails into his back and _claws_. This isn’t incidental scratching from holding on, this is deliberate and brutal and Kaz cries out and bucks his hips harder than he means to. V doesn’t seem to mind, and as soon as Quiet has given Kaz ten probably bloody stripes, she does it again, reducing him to a pathetic moan as he keeps a steady rhythm in V, driving him into Quiet. 

The whole bed is moving now, and the headboard rattles against the wall when she clutches at his ass with those wicked nails. He can’t help whimpering, and it only gets higher pitched and more continuous as Quiet just holds on, nails stabbing into sensitive skin. He clutches at V and at Quiet too, bold in his desperation. He finally lets out a pathetic sob and bites onto V’s shoulder to muffle what wants to be a howl as he comes. He knows he shouldn’t squash his bedmates, but he has to just rest on V for a minute, and he does, flinching a little in surprise as Quiet starts petting him again, her hands very gentle in his hair and on the back of his neck. Kaz trembles all over, and then rolls off of V to lie beside Quiet. 

They’re so beautiful together, all of V’s hulking, scarred power under Quiet’s control. She buries her fingers in his hair, getting a good grip and staring up into his eyes as he speeds up, harsh panting turning into a low cry as he shudders and comes at last, burying himself as deep into Quiet as he can get, stretching her out on that thick cock. She makes that growling noise Kaz has heard before, and it’s even better up close. Once V is still, Quiet gently tips him onto his side, because he is pretty goddamn heavy. He cuddles up to Kaz and makes a small and profoundly happy noise. At some point they’ll have to actually start their day, but for now Kaz closes his eyes again.


	16. Chapter 16

DD doesn’t mind that breakfast is late. Food is important, but he needs to be sure that his humans are happy. Spot grumbles a bit at the delay, but he understands, too, flopping onto the floor beside DD, both of them near the kitchen door. Lucifer prowls around as usual, but Belial comes and climbs onto Spot, curling up in solidarity. She gives DD a friendly mew when he wags at her, and she reaches out and pats his snout with one dark paw. Spot just snorts, already most of the way asleep. He has never been very alert, but DD doesn’t hold it against him.

At long last V emerges, smelling like happiness and fucking and Quiet _and_ Kaz all at once, so that’s great. DD grins at him and wags, and V grins back, scratching him behind the ears. V makes friendly noises at all three of them, and then leads the way into the kitchen, dishing up breakfast for everyone. Once they’re fed he starts on the human food, which smells amazing, the way it always does. Maybe there will be some left. Not that the animal food is bad around here. DD snarfles his share down, wagging his tail, and Spot does the same. By the time they’re licking their bowls clean, Quiet wanders in and wraps herself around V in that human way. 

DD kind of likes human hugs, but they are weird. Quiet hangs onto V while he makes bacon and eggs, moving with him the way she does when they dance. Dancing is also weird. Spot doesn’t approve at all, but DD is pretty sure that it’s a really weird kind of playing, and everyone needs to play. Now Spot begs for some bacon, and of course doesn’t get any. Even if the humans didn’t get first shot at it, it’s too hot. Spot is one of those dogs who can never grasp this, though, and now he just sighs as V pets him instead. DD wags, tongue hanging out of his mouth as Lucifer rubs himself along his legs. It’s good to have cat friends, even if they insist on being so strange. He nuzzles Lucifer, since licking him makes him really annoyed.

With his own breakfast eaten and the human food not even finished cooking, DD goes to check on Kaz. It’s so good to have Kaz where he can check on him again. Of course the bedroom smells like fucking, and it’s good that all three of them are together in it. Right now Kaz is in the bathroom, and DD listens to the water run, and smells the slippery, nasty chemical smell of soap. It’s not so bad when the humans are done bathing, but during it’s a lot. DD just sighs, and waits. At long last Kaz comes out, and DD wags and grins at him.

“Hi, Diamond Dog,” Kaz says, and crouches on the floor to pet DD, scratching his belly when he rolls over. 

Humans always laugh at the way it makes his leg kick, but DD doesn’t mind. After a while, Kaz gets up and finishes drying himself. DD prefers to shake, but towels are kind of nice. Kaz toweled him off when he was a puppy, once. Something about muddy paw-prints everywhere. He had grumbled that DD was a bad dog, but he had been very gentle with him, so DD is pretty sure he wasn’t that mad.

Now Kaz pulls on a pair of V’s pants, tipping back onto the rumpled bed to do it, belting them and cuffing them up. His metal foot is still missing, so when he sits up he grabs his crutch to go to the dresser again and put on a t-shirt, leaning his hip against the dresser when he needs to use both hands. DD is getting a bit too old for anyone to lean on, but he stays close, just in case. Kaz smells a bit nervous, but not too bad, and he strokes DD’s head before leading the way downstairs. The thumping of his crutch makes the cats a little nervous, but they don’t know Kaz like DD does. He follows Kaz into the kitchen and wags his tail to see Quiet smile at him. She makes some of her gestures (not the ones DD knows, like Stay and Take Point, the two most important ones) and then plucks at the front of Kaz’s shirt, while he blushes and rolls his eyes.

“I didn’t know it was yours, okay?” he says, and Quiet grins, leaning down and kissing Kaz. DD has never been sure why humans mind being licked on the face when they do this with each other, but humans are weird. 

Weird or not, it’s important for a dog to keep his humans in good condition, and the smell between Quiet and Kaz has been getting nicer and nicer, and even if DD’s knees hurt he prances around the kitchen a little, going to V at the stove and nudging his leg very carefully, because stoves are Dangerous Equipment. Spot isn’t very good at Dangerous Equipment, but after he burned his nose on the oven door one Thanksgiving, he learned some caution.

As everyone sits around the table, the cats come prowling in, mostly to rub their faces along Kaz’s legs, because they like him. He grumbles a bit when Belial hops up into his lap, but doesn’t do anything to move her. “You’re lucky it’s my leg that’s in the shop,” he tells her, petting her with his flesh hand. Belial just purrs, and DD takes the spot under Kaz’s chair. Usually he sticks close to V, because V is Best Human and sometimes needs extra help, but right now he wants to be near Kaz, and not just because Kaz is almost guaranteed to share his bacon. He’s glad to see Spot settle under V’s chair, as Lucifer goes to Quiet, mewing until she pushes her chair back enough for him to leap into her lap. DD wishes he still fit, but it’s pretty good under the chair, too. He licks Kaz’s foot, and it makes him jump a little and laugh.

After breakfast, Kaz gives DD a little bacon, and V does the same for Spot, so he won’t feel left out. The cats like many things, but do not much enjoy bacon. Belial makes a bid to get onto the table and lick the butter, but Kaz stops her. DD has long since learned that cats aren’t smart enough to understand humans properly, and that humans make allowances for their limitations. DD has never once licked the butter, he knows better.


	17. Chapter 17

Kaz does not want to fucking talk about this, but he’s going to have to. He’s too old and there’s too much at stake not to. He lingers over breakfast, entirely too aware of the weight of Quiet’s t-shirt on his scratches. It’s like she’s still touching him, light and constant, and he barely looks up from his plate, even with the protection of sunglasses. If he makes eye contact with Quiet right now he might just slide to the floor to kneel at her feet, and that would be awkward. Especially with his own fucking foot in the shop.

As always, it’s V who gets Kaz to talk about his goddamn _feelings_. He lures Kaz over to the couch and traps him in a hug before Quiet softly snaps her fingers to get his attention, and starts signing. It’s fair that she wants to know how he feels about her and what to not do if they keep screwing, but it’s just so early for the hard questions. Kaz groans and rubs his flesh hand over his face, making a mental note to shave whenever he ends up fleeing.

“Look,” he says into the expectant silence, “I can’t hate you, you’re sharing V when you could be making all our lives hell.”

“Not hating is a start, Kaz,” V says, “but come on.”

“Ugh, fine, I know I like you,” Kaz grumbles. “You’re a lot nicer than I thought, and that’s kind of fucking with me.”

 _That goes both ways,_ Quiet signs, and Kaz gives her a reluctant smile.

“I mean, I _was_ killing jealous of you when we met, I’d better be more charming these days.”

“Still sorry I didn’t get how serious you were about me,” V mutters, and Kaz does his best not to obviously cling to him. It must not work, because V kisses the top of his head and holds him a little more tightly.

“I just…. I don’t want to fuck this up for either of you,” Kaz mutters, not looking at anyone. Quiet snaps her fingers, and he glances up, irritated and trying not to show it.

 _You don’t have the power to fuck this up,_ she signs, and it should be infuriating, her laying claim to V like this, but something in the way they look at each other just makes it a relief. V kisses Kaz’s head again, and then cranes down a bit more to catch his mouth.

“I love you. I’ve always loved you,” he says softly, and Kaz has never been sure just how the fuck V survives being so sincere. He presses himself in against that beloved heartbeat and tries to keep his shit together.

“Okay,” Kaz whispers, hating the way his voice is trying to crack.

“I know you can’t love Quiet yet,” V says, “but you’re beautiful together.” Kaz shivers a little and then winces and bites his lip, because the scratches are really making themselves known again. “Kaz?” V murmurs, and Kaz can feel himself blushing.

“Just the scratches,” he says, hating how soft and shy his own voice sounds all of a sudden.

“Look,” Quiet says in Japanese, “I really need to know how to get rough with you without scaring you. And don’t lie to me and say you don’t want me to rough you up, or that there’s nothing that scares you.”

Kaz chuckles, feeling a little more like himself. “I do like feeling these scratches,” he tells her, sliding into Japanese even though it’s kind of like V and Quiet and their damn homesign, since V will probably never be fluent, but it’s automatic. “I… if you want to order me or around or insult me, don’t do it in Russian. I can take being pinned down if V does it, but I might freak out anyway… and I don’t know how I’ll take it if you touch my stumps. Just ask, I guess.”

Quiet nods, and signs what looks like a quick translation to V before she slides out of her chair and makes her way over to sit on the edge of the couch. She twines her fingers into Kaz’s hair as she leans over him to kiss V, and it makes him feel like a pet, and somewhere between furious and turned on about that. And then the anger dies down completely as Quiet slides her hand down the back of Kaz’s neck and then lower, pressing the scratches with her palm in a way that leaves him tense with trying not to squirm.

“I need to look at those,” V says, almost apologetically, and Kaz chuckles.

“Can’t let me die of cat scratch fever after all the shit we’ve seen, huh?”

“Something like that,” V rumbles.

Kaz ends up sitting shirtless on the kitchen table, breath catching as V’s gentle hands work their way over his back, Quiet standing beside him, admiring her handiwork. The soft and sudden touch of her lips on the deepest cut makes Kaz whimper before he can stop it, and he can feel his ears turning red. Quiet just chuckles and runs her tongue along it, and Kaz can’t help a shudder and a quiet moan. He was already starting to get hard just from V touching him, and now this. He does his best not so squirm too much as V carefully washes and dries each mark before putting ointment on them, strong, slick fingers making Kaz think of other things.

Quiet walks a slow circle around the table and then steps between Kaz’s knees, running her hand through his hair and tugging his head back to stare through his shades at him. It’s too bright in here for her to take them off, and he’s glad she knows that. Quiet smiles at him, and traces his mouth with her fingertips again.

“’m glad you like it so much,” Kaz mumbles against her fingertips, and she chuckles.

“A lot of the time pretty boys think that’s all they have to be,” she murmurs in Japanese. “I like that you’re willing to work.”

“Always,” Kaz mumbles, and sucks Quiet’s fingers into his mouth. They feel good there, slender and strong, and she chuckles, stroking his stubble with her thumb.

“So it’s all right if I slap you around a little--”

“Or choke me,” Kaz mumbles around her fingers.

“I know what that means,” V says, sounding as stern as he usually does when this comes up, “and only a _little_ , all right?”

“Only a little,” Quiet tells him in Russian, and then switches back to Japanese. “Is it all right if I order you around? Talk about you like you’re a pet?” She pushes hard at the base of his tongue and he groans quietly. “Tell you what a slut you are?” she murmurs, and Kaz whines his inarticulate but heartfelt assent.

“Well,” V says, kissing the back of Kaz’s neck in a way that makes him shudder and then sitting back and stretching his arms, “whatever you do, don’t scratch my work off.”


	18. Chapter 18

It’s enlightening to watch Kaz and Quiet negotiate, sitting at the kitchen table rather than on it. V has never really thought of himself as submissive or even all that kinky, he and Quiet just sort of fell into place, but Kaz wants a safeword beyond the obvious ‘stop,’ and there’s a whole conversation about pain, restraint, the connection between them or the lack thereof, and what Kaz can tolerate. V leans against one side of the doorjamb and sips another cup of green tea as the cats wind around his legs. Kaz has gone from glassy-eyed to that razor sharpness he always brings to any negotiating table, even if he is still a little flushed. 

Both of them have such beautiful hands, it’s nice to watch them sign. Kaz’s right hand is a perfect match for his left, Jack insisting on a custom job when Kaz would finally accept it. Watching the elegant movements of the silver fingers now, V remembers calibrating it for the first time, all those years ago. For the first time ever, he had been actively grateful to have lost his left arm. He had known what it was like, to have to sit through texture after texture just to get the fine-touch receptors to work, and how pain can ambush you, a swatch of soft cotton going across the new neural connections like steel wool. Once he had been reasonably sure it wouldn’t hurt, he had wanted to press a kiss to the metal palm, but hadn’t quite dared, Kaz had still been so prickly.

Quiet signs that she would like to have V there to translate at any point Kaz can’t see her hands, and he nods. He signs that he wants V there, looking embarrassed as hell but admitting that he could use the moral support. When Quiet tells him that it matters a lot to her that Kaz feel safe, he grimaces and looks away. “Thanks,” he mutters, and then forces himself to look back. Quiet smiles at him.

At last they have the details hammered out, and Kaz picks up his crutch and follows Quiet upstairs. V gives the animals a last, consoling pat, and follows the others. Even when V was younger, he could never really keep up with Kaz, but he’s pretty sure he’s going to enjoy being a spectator. There’s already an armchair here, since it’s useful and better for certain types of fucking than a bed, and V tugs it to an optimum viewing angle and settles into it.

Kaz is already shirtless, so all Quiet has to do to get him naked is to arrange him on his back and haul his pants off. Down by Kaz’s knees, she pauses and looks up at him, signing _May I touch?_

“Yeah,” Kaz says, voice already soft and husky in the way V loves. 

Kaz swallows hard as Quiet pulls everything down further and then slips one hand into the waistband, gripping low on the stump of Kaz’s leg, easing it free of the fabric. She does the same thing on the other side, and Kaz just keeps breathing. V is proud of him, but worries that saying so might throw them off. Quiet slithers her way back up the mattress and stretches out beside Kaz. She’s on the far side, so V and Kaz have a good view of each other. Quiet signs for V to lower the lights, and he does, obeying another gesture to come over. He understands when Quiet tells Kaz to give him his sunglasses, and smiles at him when he hands them over. V thanks him in Japanese, and Kaz smiles.

The thing about Kaz is that as much as he craves pain, he really goes to pieces when his partner is gentle with him. Quiet seems to be finding that out as she takes Kaz’s wrists and places his hands over his head. She tells him to stay there, and then says something else, that V doesn’t understand, and kisses Kaz on the mouth, soft and lingering before she starts working her way down his neck. She’s half draped over him, and he trembles as she trails kisses over his collarbones, taking her time with them before moving lower. Kaz’s flush deepens when Quiet starts nuzzling his chest, and when she latches onto one pretty pink nipple, he makes a small, breathy noise that V has always loved. 

There had been one night in Costa Rica when Kaz had been just drunk enough not to censor himself at all, clinging to V and moaning helplessly as he had sucked and bitten him for what had felt like an eternity, hard little nubs going from pink to red. Kaz can’t let go like that with Quiet yet, but he is cursing softly, his breathing rough in his throat. He clutches his left wrist in the unyielding grip of his right hand, and it touches V’s heart to see Kaz trying so hard to be good for Quiet. There’s a pink flash of Quiet’s tongue, and Kaz’s cock twitches, dripping onto his belly as he lets out a low whine.

It’s possible to fuck the English out of Kaz, so V does understand some of what he says now, about how good it feels and a few pleas for more, but a lot of the words are unfamiliar. Quiet just chuckles, and undoes the knot of today’s bikini top, pulling it off and dragging her breasts across Kaz’s chest. She presses against him and kisses him on the mouth again. V recognizes the demanding way she moves, gentle and unrelenting. Kaz doesn’t just give in to it the way V does, but Quiet insists on having control, working on him until he’s moaning softly into her mouth. She pulls away at last and murmurs into Kaz’s ear while he catches his breath, looking dazed.

Quiet signs for a dental dam, which V is happy to provide, and then adds, _You’ll have to translate._ She slides out of her shorts and holds the latex to herself as she kneels over Kaz’s face. He groans, the sound continuing as a muffled growl when Quiet sinks onto him. His forearms twitch, but he keeps that grip on his own wrist.

“I’m supposed to translate for Quiet,” V says, and Kaz chuckles, the vibration making Quiet shudder. She gets her balance so she can use both hands to sign, and gets started, gently rocking on Kaz’s mouth.


	19. Chapter 19

Once upon a time, back on the Diamond Dogs base, when Quiet was technically a prisoner and V was making her feel like a guest and Kaz was snarling at her for breathing all his good goddamn air, she might have entertained a fantasy or two of shutting him up this way. Back then she had assumed he would fight, get a little rough and earn himself a hard slap or two in retaliation, maybe some time smothered, his breath at her mercy. 

Now that it’s actually happening, he’s so obedient under her, groaning softly against her and clinging to his own wrist as he uses everything he learned this morning, that she wants to be sweet. She doesn’t grind down onto his tongue in the brutal way she could, giving him room to maneuver and not doing anything to muffle herself. She’ll make him work for it some other time. For now she lets out all of her formless noises and bites back hard on her Russian. Her Japanese is mostly honed from helping Jack’s boys, and thereby light on the filth, but she has figured out how to say a few of the most important things.

Quiet can see the tension in Kaz’s arms, can see how hard it is for him not to put his hands on her. He’s putting in real work to be good, and she appreciates it. She glances over at V, and he looks back at her, eyes wide and dark. One of Quiet’s favorite things about V is how patient he can be. He’s just sitting there, their loyal audience. Sure, he can’t get hard again yet, but he’s flushed and his pupils are blown and Quiet knows that he would feel just fine about doing Kaz’s current job or getting pegged into next week. She smiles, and pulls him into a kiss.

 _Enjoying the view?_ she asks, and he laughs quietly, the sound breathless and happy.

 _Very much, green-eyed lady,_ he tells her, and she chuckles, the sound breaking on a low moan as Kaz rolls his tongue over her clit, mostly just providing perfect resistance to her weight.

“Such a good boy,” Quiet tells him in Japanese, and he groans, the sound vibrating against her. There’s a lot more that she wants to tell Kaz, but she doesn’t have the words. She looks to V again, makes sure her balance is good, and then starts signing.

At first V tries to translate politely, and in the third person, a disaster of ‘labia,’ ‘appreciation’ and ‘continue,’ but after Quiet gives him a gentle slap and a stern look, he gets the picture. His voice has always done it for her and she has to assume that Kaz is the same. He whimpers as that slow rumble tells him all about what a pretty little slut he is, so obedient and devoted under her, that he was made for this. “I should just keep you on a leash,” V purrs, “hold you in place while I use that pretty mouth.”

Quiet’s steady stream of degradation and praise in V’s voice makes Kaz whine and squirm under her, and he trembles and lets out the sweetest little sigh when V strokes his hair, incidentally teasing the skin of Quiet’s inner thighs. She rises up on her knees to look down at Kaz, smiling at how wrecked he looks, V’s fingers still wound into his hair. His milky eyes are dilated, and he looks up at Quiet like she holds his life in her hands. It makes her want to kiss him. Shuffling backward and holding the dental dam in place and then leaning so far down is awkward, but she does it anyway, and Kaz moans into her mouth, shoulders flexing as he struggles to keep his hands where they are.

“God, Kaz,” V says, putting a hand on his thigh, “I can see your pulse in your cock. Quiet, can I touch it?” 

The high, helpless noise Kaz makes is going to haunt her dreams, and she’s all right with that. She looks to V, and nods. He gives her that sweet, open smile she loves so much, and then gives Kaz’s hair an affectionate little tug of farewell before shifting down the bed to grip Kaz’s cock in one big, gentle hand. The contact makes Kaz cry out, hips bucking. Quiet settles onto his mouth again, suddenly aware of how close she is to coming. It creeps up on her sometimes, and now she presses down into the movements of Kaz’s tongue, groaning so low it’s almost a growl. Kaz moans, and Quiet snaps her fingers, drawing V’s attention before she gives him a message for Kaz.

When V lets Kaz know that he’s allowed to use his hands if he wants, he shudders and grips Quiet just above the knee before sliding his hands up to lovingly grope her ass, thumbs rubbing at the hollows of her thighs as he rolls his tongue hard and fast, just where she needs it. Quiet cries out again and again, coming all over his face in a long series of hard clenches. V times it so that Kaz is coming before she’s done and struggling to keep his tongue in the right place as he shakes and gasps and clutches at her, touchingly committed to seeing this through.

Somehow, it’s not a surprise that afterward Kaz really wants to be held. He seems a little embarrassed about it, but not enough to pull away as Quiet pillows his head on her breasts, holding him close as he shivers, the vibration barely perceptible. It intensifies for a moment when V wraps himself around Kaz from behind, long arms holding both of them, and then it stops. Kaz makes some soft, formless noises, and in about five minutes, he’s asleep.

“All right,” Quiet says softly in Russian, “when did he get so cute?”

V chuckles, and kisses the top of Kaz’s head, leaning further to kiss Quiet on the mouth. “He always was.”

Quiet has heard the term ‘compersion.’ She’s pleased that there is a word for taking pleasure in seeing your partner’s love for someone else, and she has to assume that compersion is the warm feeling that fills her now. She slides her fingers into V’s hair, getting an easy, proprietary grip on the back of his skull, and he lets out a happy sigh, snuggling down into the pillows, his face nestled into Kaz’s hair. The two of them are so adorable together that it makes Quiet’s heart ache, and she presses a kiss to the top of Kaz’s head and to the scar over V’s eye, both of them making tiny, pleased noises in response.


End file.
